Toyota's Etios Comes To Brazil

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Last month, Toyota invited the Japanese press to join them for “the opening ceremony for its new plant in Brazil on August 9,” a three day event in and around Sao Paulo. The excitement lowered considerably as the Fourth Estate ventured to the bottom of the invitation. There it said that “flight costs to and from Brazil and all accommodation costs will need to be covered by participants themselves.” That’s Toyota as we know and love it. If you have dreams of lavish press jaunts, don’t dream them in Japan. The event happened yesterday, without yours truly. The Nikkei [sub] hopefully sent its local stringer, and it reports what we know anyway: “Toyota Motor Corp. will kick off production of a strategic small car aimed at the emerging-market middle class next month at a new plant in Brazil.” And the new car is the Etios.

Here at TTAC, we have followed the Etios from the get-go, and we talked to the car’s Chief Engineer Yoshinori Noritake a few times. The Etios is an interesting concept. It is Toyota’s car for the emerging markets. Toyota does not do what most other car manufacturers would do. Like take an existing, or worse, a former generation car and hope it will sell. The Etios was newly developed from the ground up, for India first, but with an eye on all emerging markets.

Toyota also did not fall for the “logical” trap of selling a cheap little car. Cheap little cars usually are just a gateway drug when it comes to cars. People quickly want a real car, Noritake found out in India: “People aspire to a real sedan with room for the family.” Where roads are bad, people want a sturdy car with high ground clearance. The Etios is not a faux cross-over. It hides its ruggedness under an elegant suit.

The Etios was an instant success in India. It went to South Afria. It most likely will be built in Russia, and China. And now, the Etios is in the B of the BRICs, in Brazil.

According to The Nikkei, word on the street in Brazil is that the car will go for “between 35,000 reais and 48,000 reais,” which would be between $17,000 and $24,000. Says the Nikkei:

“This would make the Etios the lowest-priced Toyota vehicle in Brazil. While offering a price that is affordable for the Brazilian middle class, however, Toyota intends to stay away from price competition. This means the vehicle will likely be priced rather high compared with rival models such as Nissan Motor Co.’s March, Volkswagen AG’s Gol and Fiat SpA’s Palio.”

“We plan to promote premium features, such as fuel economy and driving stability,” Senior Managing Officer Hisayuki Inoue, told the Tokyo wire. “All we have learned about the Brazilian market is packed into the new vehicle.”

That attentiveness to customer demands had helped making the Etios a success in India. As we found out firsthand a year ago, Toyota even provided a little shelf space in the dash where to put the statuette of a Hindu god, and they made sure that bare feet don’t get marred by the seat rails.

It’ll be interesting to know what they came up with in Brazil.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Polar Bear Polar Bear on Aug 11, 2012

    On the plus side, the Etios makes Versa look elegant.

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    • Polar Bear Polar Bear on Aug 11, 2012

      @Marcelo de Vasconcellos I would also pick the Versa. I agree with you, the somewhat clumsy shape of the Versa is nothing compared to the fugliness of the Etios. I have driven the Versa and it is surprisingly good on the road, the seats are comfortable and the interior is large. Versa felt like a bigger car than it is.

  • Toucan Toucan on Aug 11, 2012

    Design-wise, I'd have trouble choosing between this and Geely CK. thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/08/best-selling-cars-around-the-globe-breaking-news-a-chinese-model-in-pole-position-for-the-first-time-outside-china/

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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