Toyota recently launched the thirteenth generation Corolla Altis in India. The company managed to introduce the car at a competitive price of Rs 11.99 lakh and the base model diesel variant is available for as low as Rs 13 lakh. As one would expect the diesel variant at this price, is the best-seller of the range but surprisingly the petrol automatic is also in demand according to a source.
A few dealers have reported that the automatic variants account for nearly 60-70 per cent of the total bookings for the petrol model. According to dealers customers looking for ease of driving are opting for the AT model whereas chauffer driven ones are going in for the manual ones.
Another said, “The customers are quite well informed and they know all about the CVT gearbox and paddle shifts, and are liking the new looks too. We expect the demand to stay strong for a while.”
The previous generation Corolla Altis had been the darling of the taxi market and didn’t find too many favours with individual buyers. However, Toyota seems to have nailed it with the new Corolla Altis, the surprise element being the high demand for the automatic variant which indicates more private buyers. It would be interesting to see if the demand sustains. The Corolla automatic is available in two variants G AT petrol which retails at Rs 15.04 lakh and the VL AT petrol which goes for Rs 16.89 lakh and is the highest priced variant of the lot. It's closest competitor at this price is the Elantra which is also available in two automatic variants.
Toyota Corolla Altis first drive
Source: ACI
