Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM)’s move to re-enter the booming compact SUV market with the new Urban Cruiser Taisor in less than a year after it discontinued the Toyota Urban Cruiser (the rebadged Maruti Brezza) seems to be paying off. Launched on April 3, 2024, with an aggressive starting pricing of Rs 773,500 for the base E MT model – which makes the Taisor the most affordable Toyota SUV in India – the Taisor, as per the latest SIAM wholesales data, has sold a total of 11,218 units till end-August 2024 (see five-month data table below).
Deliveries of 3,213 units in August 2024 have been the highest monthly dispatches in the past four months.
Since deliveries began in May 2024, demand for the Taisor, which is also the smallest Toyota SUV in India, has hit its highest level of 3,213 units in August 2024, just ahead of the festival season opening. The coming months should see higher dispatches of the newest Toyota in town. Of TKM’s total utility vehicle sales of 103,256 units in the first five months of FY2025 (up 47% YoY, April-August 2023: 70,284 units), the Taisor’s share is 11% with 11,218 units.
L-R: Sabari Manohar, VP, Sales-Service-Used Car Business, TKM; Masakazu Yoshimura, MD and CEO of TKM and Regional CEO at Toyota Motor Corp; Ms Manasi Tata, vice-chairperson, TKM, and Tadashi Asazuma, DMD – Sales-Service-Used Car, TKM & Lexus at the Taisor launch o n April 3, 2024.
TKM’s newest rebadged model gets going
The Toyota Taisor is the fourth of the Maruti models rebadged for Toyota Kirloskar Motor. Based on the Maruti Fronx, the Taisor is the youngest of Toyota’s four badge-engineered (rebadged) models in India after the Glanza hatchback (based on the Maruti Baleno), Urban Cruiser Hyryder midsize SUV (based on the Maruti Grand Vitara), and the Rumion MPV (based on the Maruti Ertiga).
The Taisor, which shares almost all its body panels with the Maruti Fronx, features some cosmetic changes over its donor car – a redesigned front grille and restyled front bumpers. Other highlights include LED DRLs with a new linear design, tweaked tail-lights and new styling for the 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels.
Inside, the Taisor sports dual-tone brown-and-black upholstery, 9-inch touchscreen infotainment with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 360-deg camera, a heads-up display, wireless charger, smartwatch connectivity and so on. On the safety front, this Toyota compact SUV gets six airbags, electronic stability program (ESP), hill-hold assist, ABS with EBD and ISOFIX child seat anchorages.
The Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor is powered by the same 1.2-litre, four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol and 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbo-petrol engines. The former develops 90hp and 113 Nm of torque, and can be had with either a 5-speed manual transmission or an AMT. The turbo-petrol engine (100hp/148 Nm) is available with a 5-speed manual and a 6-speed torque converter automatic. There is also a CNG option with claimed fuel efficiency of 28.5 km/kg.
Taisor third best-selling rebadged model for Toyota in April-August 2024
The rebadging strategy has been a successful move in the competitive Indian PV market and combined sales of the four models (Hyryder, Glanza, Taisor and Rumion) at 67,406 units are up 76% YoY (April-August 2023: 38,280 units). This makes for a 53% share of the rebadged models, up from the 41% a year ago.
The Toyota Taisor, in a scant four months, has sold 11,218 units between May 2024 (when deliveries began) through till August 2024.
The Taisor, in the first five months of the current fiscal, is already the third highest-selling rebadged model for Toyota Kirloskar Motor. Wholesales data for the April-August 2024 period reveals that the Urban Cruiser Hyryder midsize SUV with 25,386 units, up 58% YoY, is the best-selling of the four rebadged models, followed by the Glanza hatchback with 22,475 units, up 2% YoY.
The Urban Cruiser Taisor, in a scant four months, has taken third position with 11,218 units while the Rumion MPV, launched in August 2023, accounts for 8,327 units. The Rumion has sold over 12,500 units in its first year till end-July 2024.
Toyota India headed for record sales in FY2025
In FY2024, of TKM’s record passenger vehicle sales of 245,676 units, up 42%. FY2025 bids fair to be yet another fiscal of strong sales for the Japanese car and SUV manufacturer.
With seven months still to go in FY2025 and 126,455 units (up 36% YoY) already sold in the first five months of the current fiscal, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has already achieved 51% of its FY2024 total till end-August. With the festive season having begun, and sustained strong demand for most of its products, it could be surmised that the company could achieve the 300,000 units mark for the first time in FY2025.
At 103,256 SUVs and MPVs sold (up 47% YoY), the UV share of TKM’s April-August 2025 sales currently stands at 81% – expect the Taisor to add a fresh dose of momentum in the coming months.