The production hassle of Fortuner [images] – 400 units a month- has been overcome to some extent (increasing to 1000 units). But the sources in Toyota Kirloskar confirmed the suspension of bookings to be effected at any time. The demand for the vehicle was tremendous- 5000 in a span of 8 days from its launch- making the waiting period to six months. The company cannot meet the demand by deriving the cars transnational courtesy tax constraint- 106% for imported vehicles.
Since the launch in August 2009, the car has reached more than 6500 owners inducing Toyota to scale 10% market share by next five years (from the current 3%). The sale in 2009 was 55000 and the projection for this fiscal is 70000 units, to be backed by the voluminous sale of Etios. To ensure speedy supply the second plant at Badadi will come off for delivering the Etios in December. This Etios [images] will be exclusive domestic oriented and preferred for export market too. For this, the dealer network numbering about 99 would be increased to 150 before December 2010.