Toyota Kirloskar Motors hopes to maintain last year sales volumes as well as its market share in the multi-purpose vechicles(MPV) segment with the launch of the new facelift version of the Innova.
The company enjoys a 36 per cent market share in the segment that has degrown by 13 per cent in 2008. Innova sales, that were up by 9 per cent till September, ended the year with a 6 per cent overall decline in sales over 2007 on account of the market slump in the last four months of the calender year. The company sold 43,699 Innovas last year, and is now targeting to sell 44,000 vehicles in 2009. The new Innova is likely to face steep competition from the Mahindra Xylo launched in January. Toyota hopes to attract the sedan customers with the new Innova priced between Rs 7.6 lakh to Rs 11.06 lakh.
The East, in comparison to the rest of the country, has fared better by registering a 1 per cent decline in sales, said Venkata Krishnan, deputy general manager, sales, south & east at the sidelines of the launch of the new Innova here in the city. Around 1218 units were sold in the region last year, and Toyota enjoyed a 10 per cent market share in the segment here. "This is partially because of the lower base in the region as North and the West had grown at a faster rate since the launch of the vehicle.", Krishnan admitted. The company now planned to ramp up its sales and marketing drives in the East.
It had dealerships in Guwahati, Siliguri,Jamshedpur, Bhubaneshwar apart from Kolkata.
The company will be phasing out the old Innova and the new version is already available with the dealers. The old Innova had sold 1.62 lakh units across the country since its launch in 2005.
