Toyota RAV4 spotted testing, SHOULD YOU WAIT?
We have so many SUV options in our market that are spoiling us right now. In India, the market has not been kind to small cars, hatchback and sedans in recent times. The hatchback segment is deiminated in the under Rs 10 lakh bracket by Maruti and anything above that has to be premium to sell in decent numbers. At this point, people stop thinking about hatchbacks and decide to pull the trigger on an SUV. Compact SUVs, Crossovers and full-size SUVs come into the buying thought process of a customer. So we have new options also coming to fulfil the appetite of the SUV buyers. That brings us to the Toyota RAV4 SUV. What is it all about? And what can we decipher from its spy shots?
Toyota RAV4 – What will it be?
Now first thing is that we are just spotting the car here and there. We all know it is the Rav4. The car has been in India for some time now testing and like we see in these spy shots or any other available online – it’s now covered. That means it’s not something Toyota is especially building for India. The car is based on the TNGA-K platform shared with the Camry. The car only comes with a petrol and petrol/hybrid option. So like the Camry in India, the RAV4 will also be available with a hybrid combination.
The engine option includes – a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine paired with an electric motor to make 218hp plus it has a 222hp variant with all-wheel drive. We probably might get the all-wheel-drive version only.
RAV4 Price, Launch and Competition
Now will this car be cheap and be made in India plus what will its competitors be? So can a localized platform of the RAV4 make a cheap car – Yes, read the story below. But will the RAV4 be a Creta competition SUV like many are thinking it will be – No. The RAV4 will be expensive. It will probably come in the third quarter of the year since Toyota has not given any launch indication yet and will be concentrating on the facelifted Fortuner sales.
If the RAV4 is to come straight out of the box as it is – the car will most likely come via the CBU route with 2,500 units to get avoid homologation. So prices of the car could be around Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 60 lakhs. This will mean that the car is going to be around the same price as the Camry and above the Fortuner. We would love to see a car from Toyota that could compete with the Creta and Seltos in the mid-size SUV segment but that might not happen soon.
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