Premium Hatchback Segment has been a tricky segment for all OEMs. While the volumes from the segment is substantial; only Maruti (Nexa) & Hyundai have been able to crack it. The likes of VW & Honda are struggling to make a visible impact here. Hence when Toyota planned to enter the segment; it did the easiest thing – rebadge the bestseller and sell it from their showrooms. While the deliveries are yet to start and the price hasn’t been announced yet; we are thoroughly disappointed by Toyota for its lame attempt to change nothing but the badge! The images surfaced online clearly shows that there are no significant changes either on the exteriors nor the interiors.
Indian consumers are extremely mature now and just a badge change won’t serve the purpose. The statistics clearly shows that when other OEMs tried re-badging; it wasn’t successful in the Indian market. The most apt examples are the –
VW Vento / Skoda Rapid – Rapid has always been the clear winner owing to the lower price. Even in Apr’19; Rapid sold over twice the number of Vento’s (Rapid: 721 units & Vento: 337 units)
Nissan Terrano / Renault Duster – Duster sold over 12 times that of Terrano in Apr’19. Terrano costs more and doesn’t offer any notable value compared to Duster.
It should be a disaster if Toyota attempts to price Glanza over Baleno. Let us see how Toyota plans to launch and execute its Premium Hatch offering. Also it’d be interesting to see the response for the Indian consumers.
