Toyota India is planning to launch a 'Taxi-spec' version of Yaris soon. Since the Etios was very popular among the fleet operators so, in its replacement, the Japanese brand is now looking at the Yaris as a potential taxi car.
How its taxi version will be different from its standard variants?
At present, Yaris is offered to the consumers in 4 variants. Even its entry-level variant, which is J, gets a ton of premium features like projector headlamps, alloy wheels, all power windows, cooled glovebox, rearseat armrest, power-adjustable wing mirrors, remote locking, height-adjustable driver's seat & segment-first 7 airbags in the base variant. However, to relieve the customer's pocket company has also introduced the 3 airbags options with J & G variants. For taxi version, Toyota has planned to trim some of the features down to make the car affordable. Also, to keep its price low its 1.5L petrol engine will be offered only with a manual gearbox. Toyota could also look for a CNG option.
Following are some of the features we are likely to see in the taxi spec Yaris in India:-
- Dual front airbags
- Front seatbelt pre-tensioners
- Isofix child seat mounts
- ABS with EBD
- ESC
Toyota might not offer the projector headlamps & alloy wheels in Yaris as well to lower the price.
With regard to this, senior vice president, sales, and customer service, Naveen Soni commented:
'There are different segments that open up as the market opens up. So, from that point of view, how do we get more segment-associated features added or deleted? Maybe make it more attractive for the taxi customer; because while the Etios is not there, we have the Yaris to offer for that customer. Very soon, we should be looking at the possibility of a specced-down Yaris.''
Expected Price
Currently, Yaris's base model is priced at Rs. 8.76 lakh. We expect the taxi version to be priced even lower.
Source: Autocar India
