Toyota Corolla Altis To Be Discontinued In India In 2020

Earlier this week, Toyota Kirloskar Motor shelved its plan of introducing the new Corolla Altis for India. The carmaker has decided to retire its executive sedan in the Indian market once the new BSVI emission norms roll out in 2020. This movement by Toyota does make good sense since the D-segment sedans are experiencing a considerable sales drop due to the presence of premium SUVs and crossovers in the same price bracket. Furthermore, this plan will also, in effect, hamper Maruti Suzuki’s plan of launching a rebadged version of Corolla Altis under its own channels too.

Toyota Corolla Altis used to be a much-recognised vehicle in the Indian market.

Having said that, the D-segment sedans are not really as popular as they used to be. Various new products with more space, features and stellar off-road prowess along with reducing prices gap between SUVs and sedans have lured in many new buyers toward the sub-four-metre compact SUVs segment.

In FY 2019, the cumulative sales of Corolla, Elantra and Octavia dropped by 30 per cent. Despite earning the top spot of the sale chart at 2,783 units, the Toyota Corolla is, true, not good enough to achieve healthier numbers. In the meantime, popular SUVs like Mahindra XUV500 and Tata Harrier are receiving phenomenal responses from the car fanatics. Therefore, the Japanese auto brand does not get a viable reason to upgrade the Corolla or bringing its new-gen version across our shores in the future.

However, the D-segment sedan from Toyota will be soon phased out from the company's product line-up ahead of the BSVI implementation.

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On the other hand, Honda rival just entered the same segment with the tenth-gen Honda Civic which is positioned at around Rs 17.72 Lakh- 22.32 Lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi) several months ago. The Honda Civic sedan registered more than 2,000 sales units after the first month of launch. While the Corolla Altis may be discontinued post-BSVI’s kick-in, it should clear the way for an all-new crossover from the Japanese manufacturer. As of now, Toyota remains tightlipped about its future plan for the competition and further details will be updated at a later time.

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