Hindustan Times
For Toyota the D day is Monday
The significance of the Etios Liva for world’s largest carmaker Toyota in India as well as for the rest of the world cannot be undermined even if one wants to. Of the 40 odd cars that the 74 year old car company has produced so far, seldom has it that a car has emerged with so much riding on it. The importance is well underlined by the fact that it has been developed painstakingly over 5 years with a dedicated team of 4,000 engineers, many of them Indian. Roughly that would mean Toyota started its groundwork merely within a year of Maruti Swift’s launch in India, the car that is the benchmark for the Liva.
More importantly, this will be Toyota’s smallest and cheapest car till date and one that has been developed solely with India in mind. While many global carmakers are now making cars exclusively for India, the Liva would be the first such car that would hit the roads. One would have expected a Maruti or a Hyundai which are more entrenched in the domestic market here, it is actually the Aichi based firm that realised first that to crack the Indian market, they have to make a car exclusively for India. It is a bold step and one that may indeed have far reaching consequences than just the success of a car.
The importance of being a Liva
In many ways, the Liva presents Toyota with the challenge and opportunity that Innova presented back in February 2005. Toyota brought the Innova into the market to replace the hugely successful but dated Qualis, which was becoming a favourite in the taxi segment and hence losing its aspiration value. Why Toyota would have had a problem with that is amusing considering that its best selling car worldwide the Corolla is the taxi driver’s first choice the world over, but it was a gamble of no mean proportions. Innova was to be a more upmarket car priced high above, so that people aspire for it. In the meantime Toyota was also ceding the ground that it had itself created with the Qualis for the likes of the Mahindra Scorpio and Chevrolet Tavera.
If the Innova had failed then, it would have taken Toyota, a Japanese conservative firm, to take atleast twice as much time to realise that India was ready for the cars that it produced and also willing to pay a little more for it. Having established itself with cars that are durable, high quality, and reliable, the Liva now seeks to enter a territory that is unknown to Toyota. It is for the first time that the company is entering the world of cut throat pricing which is dictated not by quality or performance alone. If the Liva is as successful as its other cars, then the company would only be further emboldened to take risks and India would emerge as a successful laboratory for that. If not, then Toyota will go back to its risk averse ways.
What is the car all about
Almost all Toyota cars do not score very high on style and aesthetic appeal unlike the Honda. The Liva then, is no different. It does not have the swashbuckling demeanour of the Swift, its major rival. Nor does it ooze quality like the Honda Jazz. But it is a complete workman’s car that is built to last and can be trusted to serve you day in day out for years like the faithful pet in the house. And just like him, it would not grumble and demand too much of your attention as well.
Powered by a 1.2 litre engine that Toyota has freshly developed for this car, it is much more powerful and capable than the ones that do the duty in the Swift, Ritz and Figo. The company has followed Swift so closely while developing it, that it scores better on almost all counts, particularly space. It has by far the best cabin space in the segment. It will not win any beauty pageant, not even come a respectable runner up but it will age gracefully and while at it, it will serve you better than the victor.
What is it up against
The Suzuki Swift is the big rival to the Etios, but first up it would have to contend with other very potent players. The Ritz is not doing as well as it was initially, but it has established itself as an option for those who want a Maruti but are bored with the Swift. And as the numbers suggest, there are quite of few of those in the market. Last year’s sensation Ford Figo is another tough competitor offering very little frills but very high value for money. Except for the Swift and the Micra, there is no other car in the segment that looks quite as good as the Figo and it is also the most spacious.
What works in favour of all these is the fact that all of them also boast of diesel engine option, something that the Liva will not get anytime soon. But as the success of the Etios (chart 1) sedan indicates, there is a firm foundation already present for the Liva to launch itself.
It is unlikely to see Liva going on and beating the Swift first up and there are quite a few reasons for it. Almost 40% of Swift sales is accounted for by diesel where Liva is not competing right now. Toyota has also rationed just 70,000 cars for the Etios twins and that would mean the Liva would at the maximum get about 3,500 cars a month. Less than a third of Swift’s 11,000 odd every month.
But at the end of the year, if Liva is able to establish itself as the strong number 3 in the segment, it would be quite an achievement and a true indication of its success. With more capacity next year and a diesel variant to come, Swift vs Liva, and Toyota vs Suzuki would be the epic battle of 2012. That will also be Toyota’s platinum jubilee year.
(8 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)
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@Mr Arnab Mitra,
I have a request.
Mr Joginder Nath Mondal of WB in 1940-ties, played a crucial role in the division of India , as he and 4 other legislators provided crucial support to Jinnah’s Muslim League to form government in undivided Bengal and then in division of India. Mr Mondal gave up everything in India and migrated to Pakistan in 1947. Here is his letter of resignation from Jinnah-Liaqat Pakistan government 3 years later in Oct 1950, when he fled to Calcutta India to save his life.
Please read it in full as its an insiders account of the chartacter and nature of the Pak state.
Link provided below.
http://www.mayerdak.com/root/jnmandal.htm
(numerous other links to can be found for this historic resignation letter )
This letter in my opinion must be compulsary reading for anyone studying Indian history for the events surrounding 1947.
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Arnab Mitra can talk all the smack that he wants about Pakistan. I’ll be the first to admit that Pakistan has problems, and that it has committed wrongs. But despite Pakistan being a failed state, it is in a much better geopolitical position than both Afghanistan and the United States.
Afghanistan is being held together because of a 10-year NATO occupation. Once that ends, then who knows how it will end up. It is not hard to imagine the Taliban taking over again, with our without help from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc. It is much more disunited and corrupt than Pakistan, and I would not be surprised if it plunges back into civil war.
The US is on its way out. Actions like the NATO strike are not new, only in the past they have attacked militants and innocent civilians. It only has a few years left in the region. I live in the US, and I know how much the public wants the war to end. The US has created a bigger debacle than Iraq in Afghanistan, and it cannot control the future of Afghanistan once it leaves without support in the region.
That leaves India. As Arnab himself indicated, India is reluctant to go hostile against Pakistan. It can try to seek to make a base in Afghanistan, but does India really want to make friends with the same Afghanis that it accuses Pakistan of sending to Kashmir as jihadists. Despite Afghanistan vs. Pakistan tensions, I doubt the people of Afghanistan, particularly the Islamists, would want to cozy up with India.
This is because Islamists all over the world are furious at India’s occupation of Kashmir. Mitra really wants Pakistan to destabilize and break up. He should realize to not make such statements in the heat of the moment, and realize what the actual score is in the game.
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posts like these really don’t help in any way. they aggravate the animosity between the countries. why can’t people be a little more careful with their words? I’m sorry to say, but this blog post has served no purpose at all except that it is full of hate speech.
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IstThe weakening or disentegration of W Pakistan in Indian interests ?
Do we have state sponsored terrorism from East Pakistan anymore ? No. Infact, Bangladesh has now banned religious parties from parliamentary elections and the state is not engaged in arming, training and protecting jihadi terrorists. If W Pakistan disintegrates into Sindh, Baluchistan, Pakhtoonistan and Punjab, in all likelihood, Sindh, Baluchistan, Pakhtoonistan will be non-terrorist-sponsor states. Yes Pakistan Punjab will remain a criminal thug entity engaged in terrorism. But it will be much weaker and engaged in fights with other ex-units of Pakistan. So Indian should either totally ignore and isolate w pakistan or provide moral and diplomatic support to the units and people that want to get out of the pak punjabi army criminal ideology and rule.
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In Pakistan, the entire state is based on false-hood. They teach utter false-hoods and have deleted Hindus and Sikhs from there history and have adopted the murderers of their own ancestors as their heroes. In India the state is secular. The students are taught Mughal history with equal fervour to other periods of Indian history. Akbar is praised and eulogized , while the communal killer and thug Aurangzeb is critically appraised. In Pakistan, Aurangzeb is the hero ! Mahmud of Ghazni, Mahmud of Ghori , Timur-e-langra – all bandits and thugs , who are not even from Pakistan, have been adopted as their ancestors. So no amount of rationality or talk of peace is going to change the ground reality of a state born out of communal bigotry and ideology of Jinnah and now occupied by his rightful heirs – the taleban, LeT , Pak army/ISI.
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US-based Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai pleads guilty to charges of spying for ISI
WASHINGTON: US-based Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, accused of being an ISI agent and trying to influence American policy on Kashmir has pleaded guilty on federal charges of spying for the Pakistani spy agency.
Fai also acknowledged receiving money from the Pakistani spy agency through clandestine routes and causing revenue losses.
Pleading before the US Eastern District Court of Virginia on Wednesday, Fai pleaded guilty and agreed to the charges of federal prosecutors that he received at least $3.5 million from ISI between 1990 to 2011. This resulted in a revenue loss of between $200,000 to 400,000 to the US government.
His sentencing is scheduled for March 9. Fai agreed before the court that he was in direct contact with the ISI officials including the head of its security directorate.
He conceded receiving talking points from ISI regarding what to say and write. He agreed that he received directions from ISI with regard to which specific individuals to invite for KAC conferences.
Fai, 62, has consented to forfeit all four bank accounts in his name or in the name of KAC totalling about $140,000. He also agreed before the court that he had send to the ISI annual budget of the KAC for approval.
He continues to be under house arrest till the time of his sentencing. Fai was arrested on spying charges on July 19 and then put under house arrest.
A resident of Fairfax Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington DC, Fai was head of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) and claimed to lobby on behalf of the people of Kashmir.
Federal prosecutors, in their submission before the court, have charged him with working for the ISI and accepting millions of dollars from the spy agency.
He is accused of funnelling $4 million ISI money into the US to influence country’s Kashmir policy.
His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funnelled millions through the Kashmir Centre to contribute to US elected officials, fund high-profile conferences and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington, US attorney Neil MacBride had said in July.
“Mr Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir,” MacBride had said.
The affidavit alleged that although the KAC held itself out to be a Kashmiri organisation run by Kashmiris and financed by Americans, it was one of three “Kashmir Centers” that are actually run by elements of the Pakistani government, including ISI. The two other Kashmir Centers are in London and Brussels.
The FBI had arrested Fai for allegedly collaborating with ISI by “clandestinely” funnelling hundreds and thousands of dollars to change the view of American lawmakers on Kashmir.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-based-Kashmiri-separatist-Ghulam-Nabi-Fai-pleads-guilty-to-charges-of-spying-for-ISI/articleshow/11023279.cms
( Some of the money paid by ISI made it into the pockets of Indian journalists , who take a soft, pro-pak position in Indian media )
Question is how many people has government of India successfully prosecuted for receiving funds from ISI to conduct terrorism inside India ? The case against jihadi Saeed Geelani went no where and he has been freely doing pro-pak propoganda for last 30 years in India.
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Arnab Mitra,
I think you will not survive in HT for very long. This paper is controlled by fake-liberal-secular extremists.
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You are right Mr. Khan. Black Sheep are everywhere and India has more than its required quota as well. Celebrating or gloating over other people’s misfortune or Schadenfreude does not befit any human being.
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Lol what the Hindu king though is irrelevant that is not what the Radcliffe line was based on. The Hindu king left his throne when people rose up and began rioting
India has no claim to Kashmir and occupies it
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Your papers are racist and intolerant
I don’t care about your papers
But when they make such twisted remarks which hitler would be proud of .. I come to pity you
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hate is duty and lie is staple food for people like arnab
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