Toyota has understood its position well and in a bid to resist the overwhelming bookings it has to suspend the bookings for Fortuner [images] in India. The step coincides with Toyota Kirloskar already scheduling the suspension due to flaws in the brake kits of the car. Toyota no longer intends to make the customers wait – some times even for six months- and the process has begun to clear the backlogs, said its Deputy MD. The bookings will resume after July.
The car came to roll down last August and ever since then the response has been fantastic. The net sale as on the date is 6500 units and there has been an increase in the production to 950 units a month. With 6000 booking still pending for clearance, the company plans to resume the booking when the situation eases to make the wait period to three months. The service point of view to 220 customers having the problem in brake on individual basis is another reason. Some customers prefer switching to MUVs from sedans, since the brake for this 4-wheel drive car is somewhat different from the normal vehicles.
The company made it clear that the rectification is not a recall but improvising the existing brake system. Toyota has a good niche over its hybrid car Prius, and the target, amidst the current booking of 80, is 200 units in the country. Prius is Toyota’s best selling hybrid and proving to be an ideal car with alternative fuel. Prius is imported from Japan as CBU at a waiting period of 3-4 months and an order for 200 units have been made. These vehicles will be delivered on month wise dispatch with already 12 units being on the road. There are two variants of Prius – Rs26.55 lakhs and Rs27.86 lakhs.