With combined sales of 163,483 units, the Toyota Glanza hatchback, Urban Cruiser Hyryder midsize SUV, Urban Cruiser Taisor compact SUV and the Rumion MPV have registered strong 53% YoY growth. These four rebadged models accounted for a 53% share of Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s best-ever passenger vehicle dispatches of 309,230 units in FY2025 and are a 9% increase over the 44% they had in FY2024.
15 Apr 2025 | 1248 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Product and marketing synergies often pay strong dividends and Toyota Kirloskar Motor is benefiting hugely from the global alliance between Suzuki Motor Corp and Toyota Motor Corp. As a result of this product-sharing pact between the two Japanese automakers, Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s strategy to launch a clutch of Maruti-rebadged models ...
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Product and marketing synergies often pay strong dividends and Toyota Kirloskar Motor is benefiting hugely from the global alliance between Suzuki Motor Corp and Toyota Motor Corp. As a result of this product-sharing pact between the two Japanese automakers, Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s strategy to launch a clutch of Maruti-rebadged models has paid off handsomely in the Indian passenger vehicle market.
At present, there are four badge-engineered models in India bearing the Toyota logo – the Glanza (based on the Maruti Baleno), Urban Cruiser Hyryder (based on the Maruti Grand Vitara), Rumion (based on the Maruti Ertiga) and the Urban Cruiser Taisor (based on the Maruti Fronx).
These four Toyota models, which have cumulatively sold 163,483 units in FY2025, accounted for 53% of TKM’s record passenger vehicle wholesales of 309,230 units (up 26% YoY), clearly establishing their key role in the Japanese automaker’s resurgence in the Indian passenger vehicle market. Clearly, their strong contribution helped the car and SUV manufacturer register its best-ever fiscal year sales 25 years after it began manufacturing operations in the country.
The four rebadged models’ 53% share constitutes a sales increase of 53% year on year. In FY2024, with three models (Glanza, Hyryder and Rumion), the share of Maruti-rebadged models in TKM’s total passenger vehicles sales (FY2024: 107,151 PVs) was 44 percent.
The badge-engineering partnership between the two automakers has also resulted in Maruti Suzuki borrowing the Toyota Innova Hycross for its Invicto MPV, which has sold an 4,036 units in FY2025, down 12% YoY (FY2024: 4,599 units). The Invicto, which was launched in July 2023, has sold a total of 8,635 units over 21 months till end-March 2025.
SIAM’s wholesales data for FY2025 reveals that the Urban Cruiser Hyryder midsize SUV with 60,388 units, up 23% YoY, is the best-selling of the four rebadged models, followed by the Glanza hatchback with 48,839 units, down 7% YoY. The Urban Cruiser Taisor compact SUV, launched on April 3, 2024, is in third place with 32,378 units while the Rumion MPV, launched in August 2023, accounts for 21,878 units.
In terms of their contribution to TKM passenger vehicle sales, the Hyryder (60,388 units) accounts for a 19.52% share in FY2025, similar to FY2024. Due to the 7% decline in demand, the Glanza (48,839 units) has a 16% share in FY2025, down from the 21% it had in FY2024. The third highest contributor in the quartet of rebadged models is the Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor, which has completed a year in the domestic market. Launched in April 2024, the Taisor has sold 32,378 units and has a 10% share of TKM’s PV sales. The Rumion MPV, with 21,878 units, posted 266% YoY growth on a low year-ago base and has a share of 7% share of the company’s total wholesales.
The importance of the three rebadged utility vehicles – Hyryder, Taisor and Rumion – increases when their sales numbers are seen as contribution to TKM’s overall UV sales. In FY2025, Toyota India sold a total of 258,537 SUVs and MPVs, up 31% YoY (FY2024: 191,065 UVs). This effectively means the Hyryder, Taisor and Rumion contributed 23%, 12% and 8%, respectively, to the company’s UV sales. All in all, these three models have a 44% share of TKM’s UV sales.
Production and sales volume is highly critical in the automotive industry and badge-engineering is one way of sharing costs between automakers while also generating incremental volumes. The capital expenditure or the investment to make model change is minimal and, importantly, vehicle buyers have taken a shine to such badge-engineered products. Furthermore, the OEM ‘borrowing’ the product from the donor OEM – Toyota Kirloskar Motor from Maruti Suzuki India – does not have to incur any developmental costs.
What also makes the Toyota-Maruti Suzuki partnership a success is that the Toyota-badged models haven’t impacted sales of their donor Maruti models. This is also because of the arrangement between the two carmakers that ensures the owner of the product has the right to maximum volumes.