Toyota Innova - A decade of dominance

Ever since its launch in 2005, the Toyota Innova has been a runaway success for the Japanese carmaker in India. Toyota sold more than half a million Innovas in India without making too many changes; it did get a few, like the introduction of an intercooler, a few cosmetic changes and additions to the equipment list.

Here are the changes implemented on the Innova over the years:

2005: On February 24, Toyota launched the Innova with a choice of a 2.0-litre VVT-I petrol and a 2.5-litre D-4D diesel engines. The pricing started from Rs 6.82 lakh and Rs 7.42 lakh for the base petrol and diesel variants.

2005 Toyota Innova

2009: Major changes include the addition of an intercooler; however no changes were seen in power and torque figures. Cosmetically, a new chin and grille were added.

2009 Toyota Innova

2011: The second facelift gave the Innova a new bumper, grille, new headlights and newly designed alloy wheels too. Inside the cabin, steering-mounted controls for the audio and climate control system on a few variants were offered. This iteration of the Innova saw the sales spiraling up to 75,911 units in the same year — the highest ever in the history of the car.

2011 Toyota Innova

2014: Toyota retains most of the design cues from the 2011 model, except for the addition of a larger grille with minor revisions on the front and rear bumpers, and jazzy body graphics on certain models. Toyota offers two airbags as standard equipment across all variants in this iteration.

2014 Toyota Innova

Over the last few years, we have seen new MPVs such as the Maruti Ertiga and the Honda Mobilio storm into the market, and of late the Ertiga has managed to outsell the Innova. But the Innova indisputably dominated the MPV segment for a decade and with sales numbers hovering around 5,000 units, it’s still far from finished. If the new model will continue to dominate is difficult to say now, but it will get better styling, a powerful engine and even more cabin space. The new Innova is expected to be launched sometime next year.

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