Consumer demand and chip shortage for the Innova Hycross has forced Toyota to keep the Crysta in production.
Toyota India made history in February 2023 by selling not one, but two entirely different MPVs under the Innova brand when it reintroduced the Innova Crysta. Its predecessors – the first-gen Innova and Qualis – were discontinued when newer-gen models were introduced, despite their popularity.
- Toyota has sold over four lakh Innova Crystas since 2016
- Currently available only as a diesel manual
- Production likely to end by 2025
One of the key reasons for Toyota to buck its own trend and sell two models together was to differentiate between customers as the Innova Hycross is aimed at private customers. This is thanks to its car-like nature, longer features list and petrol hybrid tech. The Crysta, on the other hand, has been popular in the fleet market since its introduction in 2016, thanks to its diesel engine and rugged nature.
Innova Crysta to soldier on till 2025 at least: here’s why
At the moment, the reintroduced Innova Crysta and the Innova Hycross have over 60,000 orders pending. The Crysta is available only with a single powertrain – a 2.4-litre diesel mated to a five-speed manual gearbox – with two seating configurations. Dealer sources tell us that while the Innova Crysta is aimed at fleet owners, there have been a decent amount of bookings from private buyers too, especially the ones that are chauffeur driven.
The Innova Hycross, on the other hand, was introduced last November and has gathered quite a few bookings since then. While deliveries of the Hycross are in full swing, with top trims constituting a major chunk of orders, the ongoing global semiconductor shortage has been one of the biggest challenges for Toyota. It affects the production of well-equipped ZX and ZX (O) trims of the Hycross, in particular, which led to Toyota pausing bookings for these trims. At the moment, the waiting period for these trims are stretching to over 24 months.
Toyota India seeing its highest ever order backlog
According to our previous report, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has added a third shift in its plant in order to curb order backlog for the Innova twins and reduce the waiting period. If not for the shortage of chips, the company would have added the shift earlier to cater to the high demand.
It is learnt that Toyota had earlier planned to stop production of the Innova Crysta, but shortage of semiconductors for the new Innova Hycross forced it to continue production till the end of FY2024 (March 2024). Sources say, given the strong market traction for the Crysta, TKM is likely to continue selling it for another year.
The Innova Crysta was introduced as a replacement to the first-gen Innova back in 2016. Since then, it has added to the legacy of the Innova name in the country with over four lakh units sold between June 2016 and December 2022.
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