Toyota's first standalone electric SUV, the Urban Cruiser Ebella, delivers strong range and performance with premium quality, but rear space and features could have been better, says Somnath Chatterjee.
After a successful tie up in traditional ICE and strong hybrid models, Suzuki and Toyota are now set to take their partnership to the next level: the electric vehicle segment. Both the Japanese auto giants recently announced a plan to produce Suzuki eVX-based SUV which will be sold under Toyota brand across the globe. This electric SUV, bearing Toyota's logo, will go for production at Suzuki Motor Group (SMG) facility in Hansalpur, Gujarat beginning the spring of 2025, marking the first EV launch for both companies in India.
Toyota on January 20, 2026, officially entered India's mass electric vehicle segment with the maiden launch of the Toyota Urban Cruiser Ebella in Mumbai.
JSW MG Motor India will launch four new models this year, and is planning to invest between 3,000 crore-4,000 crore in the country over the next couple of years. The new models include a plug-in hybrid, an electric vehicle, the Majestor SUV and one additional model yet to be disclosed.
Starting January, the market is expected to welcome models like the Tata Punch 2025 which is expected to be around 6 lakh, Mahindra BE 07 EV around 29 lakh, Maruti WagonR Electric around 8.5 lakh, Toyota 3-Row SUV around 14 lakh, and Volkswagen Tera to be around 8 lakh.
After a record-breaking year, India's automobile industry is entering 2026 on a relatively strong footing, with sales growth expected in the 6-8 per cent range. The outlook is underpinned by policy support, including GST rationalisation, easing monetary conditions, and income tax relief, which together are likely to improve affordability and sustain consumer demand across vehicle segments.
Grant Thornton Bharat's latest survey indicates that hybrids are set to consolidate market share this festive season, bridging the gap between conventional petrol engines and the emerging electric vehicle segment.
Amid slowing volume sales among India's major automakers, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has defied the trend with strong growth, driven by demand for hybrid vehicles and a reliable product line up. The company expects this momentum to continue in 2025. "The overall response to our cars has been fabulous. So, we foresee the same momentum in 2025 as well," Sabari Manohar, vice-president, sales-service-used car business, TKM, said.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai and MG Motors are gearing up to introduce EVs in India.
However, the company has not provided a timeline for the launch of the small electric car.
The GST Council on Wednesday approved two slabs of 5 per cent and 18 per cent effective from September 22, the first day of Navaratri.
Tata Motors is the leader in the electric car market with about 62 per cent share.
Despite the benefits of hybrid technology, a lack of government backing and few launches have kept the segment from gaining ground.
India's flagship motor show Auto Expo 2023 kicked off on Wednesday with the global unveiling of Suzuki Motor Corporation's concept electric SUV 'eVX' which is slated to hit the market by 2025. The company's Indian arm Maruti Suzuki India is among the major manufacturers participating in the show that has returned after three years. The Concept eVX is a mid-size electric SUV concept designed and developed by Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), Japan. It will be powered by a 60 kWh battery pack offering up to 550 km of driving range on single charge.
Skoda Auto India, the Czech carmaker that has recently found success with its compact SUV Kylaq, says it remains committed to developing a fully localised electric vehicle (EV). The EV will be manufactured at its Chakan facility for both Indian market and exports.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, and Tata Motors saw a dip in dispatches to dealers in August amid dip in demand with many prospective buyers postponing their buys anticipating a reduction in vehicle prices on account of the new GST framework. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported an 8 per cent year-on-year dip in dispatches of passenger vehicles in the domestic market last month.
Leading passenger vehicle maker Maruti Suzuki on Saturday reported marginal growth while Hyundai and Tata Motors posted a decline in their sales in February as a slowdown in the market continued with demand remaining muted. On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor posted double-digit growth riding on their SUV and MPV models.
Indian passenger vehicles market registered record wholesales of 43 lakh units in 2024, with companies like market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, and Kia posting their best-ever annual domestic sales. The continued growth of SUVs, along with rural markets playing a key role in driving up car sales, helped the industry better the previous best of nearly 41.1 lakh units posted in 2023.
Passenger vehicle sales in India touched a record high of 41.08 lakh units in 2023, growing by 8.3 per cent over the previous year driven by SUVs, which accounted for almost half of the total dispatches from manufacturers to dealers. The record sales have been achieved despite an increase in the average price of vehicles to Rs 11.5 lakh last year as compared to Rs 10.58 lakh in 2022. Market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported their best-ever annual sales in 2023.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki is putting finishing touches to its plan of finding its feet in what is being hailed as a battle of epic proportions in India's fastest-growing passenger vehicle segment, reports Arindam Majumder.
Traversing from being just vehicle manufacturers to mobility solutions providers amid a raging debate over which eco-friendly technology must be incentivised, the Indian automobile industry is driving in the new year under the shadow of a slowdown in sales with the post-pandemic pent-up demand in distant memory. The shift in the auto industry -- where advanced technologies like autonomous driving, vehicle intelligence, connected features and electrification are quickly gaining traction -- will be reflected in the upcoming Bharat Mobility Global Expo in which India's flagship Auto Expo has been clubbed to be held from January 17-22, 2025 in Delhi-NCR.
Hybrids have helped Maruti acquire leadership in SUVs, a segment that was never its forte. Toyota has also risen with the hybrid tide to clock its highest-ever annual sales in 2023.
At a time when consumers increasingly embrace green mobility solutions, it is not electric cars but hybrids that are taking the lead, as automotive sales data indicate. Since January, 64,097 electric cars have been sold compared to 266,465 hybrids, according to data from the ministry of road transport and highways' Vahan dashboard. Hybrid car sales have surged from 4.42 per cent of the 4.1 million cars sold in calendar year 2022 to 7.2 per cent this year.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported a decline in wholesales in September as the companies curtailed dispatches to dealers to reduce inventory build-up amid a decline in demand. Maruti Suzuki India reported a 4 per cent dip in total domestic passenger vehicle wholesales last month to 144,962 units compared to 150,812 units in the year-ago month. The auto major said sales of mini segment cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, grew marginally to 10,363 units against 10,351 units in September 2023.
'Two would be premium products and three would be mainstream products.'
The company, which already has around 66 per cent market share in the hatchback segment and about 50 per cent in the overall domestic passenger vehicle segment, currently sells Vitara Brezza and S-Cross in the SUV segment. In an interaction with PTI, MSI managing director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa acknowledged that there was some lag in launching new products due to the pandemic but the company is now on track regarding new model launches.
The stock of the country's largest passenger vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), has been hitting successive all-time highs over the past three trading sessions. The rally in the scrip has helped it notch over a 21 per cent gain since the start of February, outperforming the National Stock Exchange Nifty Auto Index. The gains for the leader of small passenger cars have been more recent, as the company still trails the Nifty Auto over one- and two-year periods.
The new Duster will go head-to-head with popular models like Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Volkswagen Taigun, Skoda Kushaq, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, MG Astor, etc in the highly competitive mid-size SUV segment.
At a time when consumers increasingly embrace green mobility solutions, it is not electric cars but hybrids that are taking the lead, as automotive sales data indicate. Since January, 64,097 electric cars have been sold compared to 266,465 hybrids, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' Vahan dashboard. Hybrid car sales have surged from 4.42 per cent of the 4.1 million cars sold in calendar year 2022 to 7.2 per cent this year.
Toyota Fortuner 2016 vs Ford Endeavour vs Chevrolet TrailBlazer InteriorsToyota Fortuner 2017 interior
'In terms of incentives, if you think about it, hybrids are a 20-year-old technology.'
The recently launched Toyota Camry looks good, drives well, offers ridiculous levels of space and comes quite feature-loaded.
New participants included Chinese players such as Great Wall Motors and Haima Automobile along with Olectra.
It is immediately not clear how GST will impact the mass car market. Experts, however, say the level of tax on smaller cars will have to be at a differential to the sedans.
India is sceptical that Tesla might import into the country cars made in China. Tesla executives were in India last month and appear to have proposed a factory in the country. But do not be surprised if that does not happen in a hurry.
Domestic passenger vehicles sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022 led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors as the companies rode on easing of pandemic related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent up demand, specially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda India also reported record sales in 2022. "The industry wholesales in January to December 2022 were just short of 38 lakh units.
'If we are to be a contributor to the economy, we have to reduce carbon and imports.' 'We will achieve both -- that's our target.'
'Some of the launches may get deferred due to the semiconductor shortage, which is unlikely to get resolved before the second half of 2022.'
'I'm very much against petrol and diesel....'' 'I travel in an electric car.' 'I have had a really good experience with it.'
While, on the surface, it seems revolutionarily new, Toyota has essentially plugged in gaps in the Fortuner's package. Tushar Kamath/CarDekho.com drives a Toyota Fortuner 2.8 4x4 AT to find all about it.
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