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Camry's Here

Toyota Camry is set to hit Indian roads at Rs 18.5 lakh apiece. Will it set the tarmac ablaze?

Camry: The new hip thing?

When the Indian market for automobiles was opened up, in the early 1990s, market watchers had expected see many of the world's top-selling sedan models on Indian roads. Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Ford Escort and Toyota Camry, to name just a few.

Well, the famous names came wheeling in -- but with a set of unheard-of models. These were for the Indian market, and indeed, these decisions proved to be appropriate. The Indian market, held under a Maruti Udyog monopoly for so long, was hardly ready to bounce up to international levels, with the roads changing their appearance overnight. Small car country it was, and small car country it would be.

As for Ford Escort, the only 'globally successful' brand to hit Indian roads in the first burst of launches, the product was a dismal failure (the company has since succeeded only with a designed-for-the-market model, Ford Ikon). That's how peculiar the market is.

Even General Motors has tasted success only with its Opel Corsa, rather than the globally recognized (if not bestseller in the Corolla league) Opel Astra. Honda been selling the Honda City rather than Honda Accord, though the latter has indeed been launched. (Seen many of them on the roads? There).

And when Toyota entered India, via its JV with the Kirloskar group, with a utility vehicle, the Toyota Qualis, observers were convinced that India was not quite the market that global templates could serve. And that the Indian car buyer was not to be swayed by international success.

It's in that context that the Toyota Camry gets set to make its domestic debut. It is, as you'd know, a global mega-success in what's called the mid-sized sedan segment. In India, that translates to luxury sedan (or D-segment, if you're given to the alphabet soup of auto-nerd nomenclature).

Now to the question: will it set the tarmac ablaze?

Well, it's priced at around Rs 18.5 lakh, which makes it more expensive than the other D-class cars available. And the name 'Camry' certainly has a buzz to it, a ring of having a California state licence plate to it. That could add up to some snob value.

Ideal, perhaps, for the CEO -- or Senior Vice President of a large listed company. Someone not quite into the Mercedes league, for reasons of personal budgetary constraints or corporate hierarchy considerations.

But remember, the consumer also has Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata vying for his attention. And also the Skoda Octavia -- which is selling at a bargain price, considering how highly the engineering (done by a BMW-experienced team) is being spoken of.

What could make the difference is the way the cars are marketed. Global marketers have done a fine job in the compact sedan segment (Ikon, Corsa), so why play so blandly safe here?

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