Booking details and prices will be announced in the coming weeks.
Toyota has debuted the new Rumion MPV in India which is based on the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, and is the fourth badge-engineered model between the two brands. With this new model, Toyota now has the widest MPV portfolio in the market with the Rumion at the entry-level, followed by the Innova Crysta and Innova Hycross, and the Vellfire sitting at the premium end of the spectrum. Like the Glanza, the Rumion will be built and supplied by Maruti Suzuki to Toyota.
- Rumion will be Toyota’s most affordable MPV
- Comes with minor cosmetic exterior and interior updates
- Expected to be priced at a slight premium over Ertiga
Toyota Rumion: changes over the Ertiga
Compared to the Ertiga, the Rumion sees very few styling changes to only its plastic parts. It gets an all-new bumper with revised fog lamp surrounds, an Innova Crysta-like grille, and new dual-tone alloy wheels. On the inside, it gets a blacked-out dashboard contrasted with wood-like inserts; the upholstery is also finished in black. The Ertiga, meanwhile, gets beige interiors.
The equipment list, too, has been carried over as is, and like the Ertiga, its only available in a 7-seater configuration. Incidentally, the Rumion, is also exported to markets like South Africa where it’s sold in the exact same spec as it has been revealed here.
Toyota Rumion to get a sole petrol engine
Under the hood, the Toyota Rumion will continue with Maruti’s 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 103hp and 137Nm of torque, and will come mated to a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. Like the Ertiga, the Rumion is offered with a factory-fitted CNG kit and produces 88hp and 121.5Nm in CNG mode. Toyota claims the petrol version has a fuel efficiency of 20.51kpl, while the CNG version returns 26.11kg/km.
Brand experience to be the key differentiator
In the MPV segment, brand loyalty is quite strong and products like the Innova have a faithful customer base, something that Maruti-Suzuki enjoys in the entry-level of the MPV segment with the Ertiga. And with a package so similar, it would be difficult for Toyota to differentiate the Rumion to sway Ertiga loyalists.
Toyota’s plan is to bank on its brand and ownership experience to make the Rumion a more compelling buy than the Ertiga. Speaking to Autocar India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Vice President of Sales and Strategic Marketing, Atul Sood, said, “As a company we strongly believe in delivering the experience that we give to our customers, and that’s the most important thing for us.”
“We are very confident of our MPV legacy. It is what we’ve got our success by, whether it’s for the Crysta or the Hycross or even the Vellfire. At the end of the day, it’s the mobility which the customer is buying, it’s the experience which the customer is buying. elaborated Sood.
‘First in, first out’ strategy of deliveries
Toyota has, for a while now, been facing customer flak for its unreasonably long waiting periods, especially for models like the Hyryder and Innova Hycross which have over a year in waiting for certain variants. The Rumion will, of course, be built and supplied by Maruti, and as such, there will be a fixed number of allocations. However, to ensure that this also does not become another model with lengthy wait times, Toyota will be adopting a ‘first in, first out’ strategy of deliveries where bookings will be catalogued from an all-India perspective, and prioritized as per the sequence of orders.
“We’re not setting targets as such when we start the launch activities. Our aim is to give a very transparent experience to our customers, over and above the other factors which are associated with the Toyota pre-sales experience. We’d like to give a uniform experience to our customers. If you’ve booked earlier, you should get the delivery earlier. We’re going to prioritise that,” said Sood.
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