Despite the auto industry facing some serious headwinds in FY2020, the first product born out of Toyota and Maruti Suzuki’s partnership in India – the Glanza – has gotten off to a fair start. Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s (TKM) latest sales figures reveal that the company has dispatched 24,380 units of the premium hatchback since its launch in June last year.
Interestingly, Maruti Suzuki reports to have dispatched 25,002 units of the Toyota Glanza to its Japanese counterpart in the recently concluded financial year. The difference between the two figures could stem from the fact that Toyota withheld stock from its dealers last month to relieve the burden due to the nationwide lockdown. The Glanza is produced at the Suzuki Motor Corporation’s manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, alongside the Baleno premium hatch on which it is based.
Ever since Toyota pulled the plug on the Etios and Etios Liva in the transition to BS6, the Glanza has become the entry point for the Japanese automaker’s range in India. It shares its BS6-compliant powertrains with the now petrol-only Baleno. This includes a pair of 1.2-litre engines – an 83hp/113Nm K12M mill and a 90hp/113Nm K12N DualJet Dual VVT engine, the latter of which also gets mild-hybrid tech. While both engines get a 5-speed manual transmission, only the former also offers the convenience of a CVT-automatic gearbox. Claimed fuel efficiencies are rated at 21.01kpl and 19.56kpl for the manual and automatic petrol engines, with the hybrid mill posting an impressive 23.87kpl.
In the features department, the Maruti and Toyota offerings are inseparable. The top-spec variants come equipped with dual airbags, ABS, EBD, Isofix child-seat mounts, alloy wheels, LED projector headlamps, automatic climate control and a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
While the Maruti Baleno can be had in four variants, the Toyota Glanza is available only in the top two trims, dubbed as the G and V trim. Both variants are offered with manual and automatic options of the K12M engine, though it’s only the G that also gets the K12N motor. Toyota has astutely priced the G mild-hybrid variant at Rs 7.22 lakh, undercutting the equivalent Baleno Zeta hybrid by a substantial Rs 68,000. Elsewhere, the pricing is more neck-and-neck, with the Glanza commanding a sticker price of Rs 6.98-8.90 lakh. Another area where Toyota manages to impress is with its three-year/1,00,000km warranty compared to the Maruti’s two-year/40,000km offering.
In addition to the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, the Toyota Glanza faces competition from the Tata Altroz, Honda Jazz and the Hyundai i20 which will get a major model update in the coming months.
Though the recently concluded financial year has been a tough one for the whole Indian automotive market, including Toyota, March 2020 proved a major challenge owing to the recent novel coronavirus outbreak. The Japanese automaker posted a sales decline of a substantial 45.2 percent last month.
(All prices, ex-showroom, Delhi.)
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
