It’s time to boom over for Toyota’s Fortuner, the new SUV as the rival brands- HondaCR-V, Ford Endeavor, Mitsubishi Pajero and GM Captiva- all running after the zodiac forecast. Within a month of its launch, this Fortuner could really be a fortune for Toyota with the bookings crossing 7000 vehicles already, a figure surpassing the collective units sold by other companies. In spite of this, the general output of SUVs has been on the decline- Ford witnessed a drop of 85% sales for its Endeavor compared to the one in the same period last year.
Hindustan Motors mustered a sales of 118 Pajeros(it was 202 last year), Honda Siel, once the leader in the segment, went in for the policy of delivery against order(three months wait time. Honda CR-V’s sale in August 2008 was 129 as against 77 in this August.
Coming back to the success story of Fortuner, Toyota Kirloskar Motors is envisaging the production increase from this November, from 500-600 units/month. The success of Fortuner is attributed to the steps taken on right direction with Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle (IMV) platform by Toyota. The vehicle delivery was made after a prolonged survey among the “image conscious” customers. And especially SUV is a synonym for ‘rugged and macho” term and is allied with urban drive. This SUV fits in the space requisite, long drive and above all diesel option, an essential for fuel efficiency. All the home work paid off well for Toyota as in the case of its Innova.