Toyota is heavily embanking on its reputation to sell cars in India. The automaker seems to have fired all its designers and that is the reason why we are seeing lacklustre stuff from the automaker. First was the facelifted Innova which might just get the “most hideous facelift of 2013” award and now comes the Fortuner TRD Sportivo, yet again. Toyota has launched the limited edition model to take advantage of the surge in demand during the festive season. The company had launched the Fortuner TRD Sportivo last year as well (on 15th October, pictured below).
Toyota feels the TRD Sportivo edition adds a “sporty quotient” to the Fortuner. The model is based on the 4×4 MT variant and only 400 units will be offered (last year 600 units were offered). Two colours are available – white and silver and the Toyota Fortuner TRD Sportivo is priced at Rs. 24.26 lakhs (ex showroom, Delhi). Toyota is competing with Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki when it comes to limited edition models. Remember the Japanese automaker only recently launched the Etios special editions, called Xclusive.
The Toyota Fortuner TRD Sportivo gets dual tone front and rear bumper spoiler, TRD badge on the front grille, TRD Sportivo emblem on the rear, TRD engraved body stripe on the side and a rear spoiler. The TRD badging on the front and side along with the front grille seem to be the new change for this year’s limited edition Fortuner. Yes, Toyota is indeed misusing its TRD badging to boost sales in the Indian market. Power comes from the same 3.0-litre diesel engine which churns out 171 BHP and 343 Nm, coupled to 5-speed manual and automatic transmissions. Toyota sold 1518 units of the Fortuner in India last month.
