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S. Muralidhar

IT HAS been three months since the Innova, the new generation multi-purpose vehicle from Toyota, hit the Indian roads. The sales trend of this smart family vehicle compared to the other vehicles in the segment throw up some interesting insights.

For one, the Toyota Innova has been readily accepted by existing and prospective individual car buyers as an attractive option compared to the premium sedans that are currently available in the same price segment.

Buyers from most Indian joint families will immediately be able to identify the Innova as a luxurious and yet very economical option compared to a premium sedan that can at best accommodate five passengers comfortably.

However, the relatively higher price of the Innova has been a disincentive for prospective buyers from the taxi and institutional segments, who are less choosy about interior trim quality and build, and tend to be more price conscious.

The sales trend of the Innova during the past three months indicate this bias towards individual car buyers, though this is likely to change in the months to come, when the cost-to-value proposition that the Innova offers becomes clear to the institutional segment.

At least currently, the Innova can be identified as a personal use vehicle, as nearly 40 per cent of all buyers have come from the passenger car segment. Sales of the petrol Innova indicate that 80 per cent of the buyers replaced an existing passenger car. About 90 per cent of all Innovas sold are self-driven. A large number of upgrades are from entry level C sedan owners, who see more value in the Innova.

A total of 4,633 units of the Innova were sold in June 2005 and cumulatively close to 15,000 since its launch (March-June 2005). This Toyota MPV has cornered nearly 43 per cent of the market for these vehicles during June 2005.

In the MPV segment, the only other vehicle that has witnessed a rise in sales has been the Tata Sumo, which has seen the jump after the introduction of the new Victa variant. The more direct competitor to the Innova — the Chevrolet Tavera — has seen a dip in sales month-on-month during the last three months.

Which leaves us wondering as to where all the taxi and institutional sales have gone. The next few months will be crucial and we will track the Innova's sales graph. It is bound to pick up buyers from the institutional segment too.

In the meanwhile, Toyota has decided to do a remix of production among the variants with a plan to bring down the waiting period for the vehicle to less than a month.

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