Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Third World Toyota Called the Etios

As the Toyota Vios gets more and more upmarket, a void opens up. If you remember, the Vios started life as the Soluna, a 'world' car for developing nations. This became the 1st generation Vios and then the current 2nd generation Vios. Notice that the car has gotten steadily upmarket and now, the car is supposedly too pricey for markets like India and Thailand, where Toyota have spotted a gap for a basic family sedan.

Wasn't the Soluna/Vios a base sedan in the first place? Now they had to create the Etios. What Etios means is a mystery that only Toyota knows...Short for ambETIOS? I suppose being Japanese means they cannot spell properly. But what does Vios stand for? Short for obVIOS? Another mis-spelt word?
Much like BMW. By making the 3 series larger and larger and larger. They had to put a 1 series there. And now, we're hearing of them coming up with a car that is smaller than the 1 series.

This is never ending. And if you want to read more on the Etios, click here.