In what comes as a little surprise (rest of the ‘little’ was expected), Toyota’s Etios Cross has been snapped in India by an Indianautosblog.com reader, inadvertently signalling the launch of the car in our country.
What is Etios Cross?
You know VW Cross Polo, right? Exactly on the same theme stands this Japanese Etios Cross by Toyota. It has already been recently launched in Brazil and Argentina and next destination seems to be India.
With this development, we wonder if this is the ‘crossover/SUV’ that Toyota has been hinting for sometime now; We hope NOT!
As you can yourself make out, Etios Cross is nothing but a pimped up Etios Liva with a wee bit of additional equipment to ‘con’ you into believing its bad-road capabilities. It gets:
- additional side cladding
- silver skid guard (over the cladding)
- bulged up wheel arches
- redesigned front face
- Silver roof rails
- diamond-cut alloy wheels
- Refreshed interiors
- Tons of ‘Etios Cross’ emblems/logos around and inside the car
In terms of engine bits, internationally, it is powered by the 1.5L petrol engine which is already available in the Liva TRD Sportivo in India and produces 90hp of power. In India as well, we believe it will carry over the same engine. Will it get diesel power? We aren’t sure!
Now, considering that this spotting at Magarpatta, Pune appears to be for its official TVC/promotion, we feel the launch is close, real close; possibly around or at the February Auto Expo!
To us, it doesn’t look very pleasing, we will wait for its prices and expect Toyota to make it a luring perspective in the 5-10 Lakh segment where it doesn’t have a significant presence!
Toyota has very recently introduced new top of the line VD and VDsp variants in diesel in the market for Etios Liva.
Also Check Out: Upcoming Toyota Cars in India; 2014 Corolla, Compact SUV & All-New Innova
Very informative and helpful. Thanks a lot.