The Toyota Etios Cross has started arriving at the dealerships in anticipation of an early May launch as revealed by these spyshots courtesy Fly-wheel.com. You can, however, advance book your Etios Cross now and wait for your Cross Etios that’s ‘Born with Attitude‘ and is ‘A Car that Waits for None‘ as projected by the company.
What you get is liberal amount of strategically placed plastic cladding to make the humble Etios Liva hatch look like its ready for a solo to Mount Everest.
All would’ve been lost if that was the whole story; like it happened with the Polo Cross. What Toyota did differently from Volkswagen was to give the Etios Cross muscles to carry the look forward.
The Etios Cross comes with an option of availing yourself the services of 90 PS 1.5-liter petrol out of the Etios sedan; providing you the grunt to take the Etios Cross, if not all out to Mount Everest, than at least a chance to explore the small towns and villages adjoining your metrop.
Toyota unveiled the car at the Auto Expo and you can check out its details and pics here. The Cross comes with bolder grille with grille guard. The bumpers go black contrasting with body color and come with scuff guards both rear and aft. The rear of the car is bedecked with suitable badge and there is the roof spoiler as well. The 15-inch alloys get attractive diamond cut design. Besides all the body color available with standard Etios Liva, the Cross gets an ‘Inferno Orange’ color, which perhaps is the most drab looking option.
Have the underpinnings been strengthened to really take the little hatch into unpaved or semi-paved surfaces? That, unfortunately, is not the case. The ground-clearance remains unchanged and this is essentially the same hatchback which is forced to look like something more capable, which it is NOT!
Competition goes for INR 7.75 lakhs; Cross Polo. The Fiat Avventura is expected during the second half of the year and gets bigger 16 inch tyres as well as a higher ground clearance apart from some visual enhancements over the regular Punto. The standard Toyota Etios goes from INR 4.50 lakhs to about 7.00 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). A small premium is expected on the Etios Cross with standard engines. But frankly speaking, this crossover-hatchback concept should end! This is an appalling misuse of the word ‘crossover’ or ‘SUV’!
Related Reading: Toyota may launch a Compact SUV on Next-Gen Etios platform; Coming next year
