With a little more than two months to go for the BS6 deadline (April 1, 2020), Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Bidadi facility which builds the Innova Crysta and Fortuner has already achieved 100% transition to BS6.
According to our sources, Toyota has decided to absorb the additional cost burden on the Fortuner BS6 due to emission upgrade until April 1. So, when the updated 2020 Toyota Fortuner launches next week, it will continue to be retailed at same price as the BS4 version, an introductory offer. Toyota has not confirmed this development yet.
Given that the cost of transition from BS4 to BS6 is significant for a big displacement diesel engine (2.8-liter in this case), the introductory offer is quite a bargain. The Toyota Fortuner BS6 is set to launch next week and bookings have started at Rs 50,000.
The reason behind Toyota’s decision to absorb the price increase is because the automaker wants to wait till the BS6 prices of the premium off-roader’s direct rivals are released. That way, Toyota can get the revised pricing right and can avoid unnecessary rolling back or discounts at a later stage, if one of its rivals adopts an aggressive pricing strategy.
In India, Toyota Fortuner competes with the Ford Endeavour, Isuzu MU-X and Skoda Kodiaq. In its BS6 avatar, the Ford Endeavour SUV will ditch its existing large displacement engine (2.2-liter and 3.2 liter) for a single down-sized turbo 2.0-liter diesel engine which is already available internationally. The Skoda already employs a 2.0-liter diesel engine which will be upgraded to BS6 standards.
Once all the models in question get updated to BS6 standards, the Toyota Fortuner BS6 will have the largest diesel engine in its segment and that could give the rivals an opportunity to undercut it in terms of pricing. We think, by resorting to wait-and-watch approach, Toyota is trying to avoid exactly that.
To recap, the Toyota Fortuner BS6 will retain its existing 2.8-liter diesel and 2.7-liter petrol engines. The former is rated at 177 hp and 420 Nm of torque (AT variant develops 30 Nm more) while the latter is good for 166 hp and 245 Nm of torque. The current variants of Toyota Fortuner are priced between INR 28.18 lakh for base petrol and INR 34.20 lakh for fully loaded TRD diesel variant (all prices are ex-showroom, New Delhi).
