The Bharat Stage 6 emission norms came into play from April 1, 2020, and it is the biggest emission change of the decade. The auto manufacturers have been trying their best to upgrade their product portfolio to meet with the stricter emission norms, but at the same time some manufacturers are also in the process of discontinuing their cars as they don't generate volumes and updating them is a void task. Toyota is one of them and the Japanese carmaker has discontinued a total of seven cars in the Indian market ranging from Etios to Corolla Altis.
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Toyota has discontinued a slew of vehicles in India which include: Etios Liva (Liva), Etios Cross, Etios Platinum (Etios), and executive D-segment sedan Corolla Altis. Toyota has also pulled the plug on some fully-imported behemoth SUVs like the Land Cruiser, Land Cruiser Prado and Toyota Prius hybrid car.
The Toyota Etios range was first unveiled in India at the 2010 Delhi Auto Expo. The Etios sedan went on sale in late 2010 and was followed by the Etios Liva (later renamed Liva) hatchback in mid-2011. The crossover-styled Etios Cross was added to the Etios family in 2014. The Etios range was available with a 1.5-litre petrol and a 1.4-litre diesel engine option and upgrading the oil-burner to meet BS6 norms would have been too costly.
The Etios family was also not fetching good numbers for the carmaker as it was quite outdated. Toyota rolled-out small updates to keep the Etios line-up fresh but due to the growing competition from the new entrants it started losing its charm. Moreover, it couldn't pass the modern crash-test norms too that will come into effect from October 2020. The Etios range was a favourable choice among the cab-operators due to its sturdy build quality and low-maintenance. Toyota India reports that it sold 4,48,500 units of the Etios range in India until the end of its life-cycle and exported over 1.3 lakh units to other markets from India.
Another car that has fallen victim to BS6 is Toyota Corolla Altis. The Corolla Altis is the most selling car in the world but has now been discontinued in India due to poor performance. The current-generation Altis was sold in India for the past six years and although it got a mid-life facelift in 2017, it couldn't attract a lot of buyers as it started to feel outdated due to the presence of newbies like Honda Civic and refreshed Skoda Octavia and Hyundai Elantra.
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Toyota has also permanently terminated the sale of some CBU (completely built unit) vehicles which include the mighty Land Cruiser, its younger sibling Land Cruiser Prado and Toyota Prius hybrid sedan that offered a whopping 26.3kmpl of claimed mileage. The updated Toyota portfolio now includes Toyota Glanza, Yaris, Innova Crysta, Fortuner, Camry Hybrid, and the Vellfire Luxury MPV. Toyota is also gearing up to launch some rebadged versions of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Ertiga as a part of the Toyota-Suzuki Alliance.
