A single unit of the Daihatsu Terios has been imported to India, most probably by parent company Toyota. Toyota might be looking to launch the Terios in our country with a different name and many changes.
One unit of the Daihatsu Terios has been imported from Italy for research and development purposes. Before we get into the details regarding the import, let’s do a small crash course on Daihatsu, for those of you who do not know much about the company. Daihatsu is the oldest Japanese car manufacturer in the world and is also famous for its engine manufacturing unit as well. Currently owned by Toyota, the company was founded in the year 1907 and is headquartered at Osaka, Japan. The automobile company is known for its portfolio of small and off-roading vehicles.
Daihatsu had a pretty big export market till the late 1980s and early 199’s, which died out slowly due to competition from newer automobile manufacturers. The company retails many cars in its native country and many of its models are rebadged and sold by Toyota in other countries as well.
Coming to the Terios, it is basically a mini/compact SUV that was born in 1997. The first generation Terios was earlier available in India. Surprised? The Terios was rebadged by Premier and sold as the Rio. The car was very unpopular in India due to the odd styling and the lack of brand image of Premier. The Terios (Rio in India) was quite old for the Indian market and was a big flop. Nevertheless, the latest generation Terios looks very good indeed.
The move to import the compact SUV to India has definitely been carried out by Toyota. The Japanese giant is looking to learn from the Terios and might develop a compact SUV of their own if not considering to rename it and sell it the way it is. Toyota already sells the Terios as Rush in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia and might be considering to launch it in India, taking into regard that most car buyers are looking to buy SUVs if given an option.
The imported vehicle sports a 1.5-litre DVVT petrol engine, with power being driven to two wheels with the help of a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. No additional details regarding the compact SUV’s import is available at the moment but there is a possibility of rival firms like Tata Motors or Volkswagen importing it for benchmarking.
Source – Zauba.com