It always makes me wonder that, this car, which doesn’t even offer a sunroof and various basic features like Electronic Parking Brake, etc. at price of 50 Lakhs, still manages to sell shockingly good very single month!?

Well, if you don’t know then, I’m talking about the TOYOTA FORTUNER. The Fortuner is not just a car, it is a brand. You ask any car enthusiast, that person knows about the Fortuner. 

But, to understand how does it sell so good being overpriced? We will have to dig a bit in its history to know about it.

HISTORY

In early 2000’s, there was a big transition taking place in the Automotive Industry, every brand was coping up with the new Technology and the new Design Language in the market. Seeing this, Toyota wanted to create something which could look and feel modern as for the 21st Century, yet, be a Toyota at the end of the day. 

And here in 2002, Toyota creates a completely new platform, designed as per the modern needs, but, still packs great capabilities in-terms of off-road. The IMV Platform. This platform had a purpose, to bring in 2 new cars and to be the new underpinnings of an existing car.

The IMV platform was made to serve as a new platform for -

7th GEN TOYOTA HILUX

TOYOTA INNOVA

Therefore, here’s how the Fortuner was actually born. But it was not launched in India yet. Toyota brought in the Fortuner in India in 2009. It launched the Fortuner as a proper J-segment Mid-Sized SUV in India, priced at around ₹ 18 Lakhs. And talking about today, it costs a whopping   ₹ 50 Lakhs.

FEATURES

 If you want to know the most interesting and cool features about the Fortuner, which costs in between 50-60 Lakh rupees, here you go.

1. Engine options –

1. 2.8 L Diesel Engine, producing 201 bhp and 500 Nm of Torque, available in MT and AMT.

2. 2.7 L Petrol Engine, producing 161 bhp and 243 Nm of Torque, available in MT and AMT.

2. Automatic Climate control.

3. 4 x 4 system, very capable!

4. Hill assist

And that’s it!

In Fact its rivals, 

MG Gloster is leaps ahead of Fortuner when it comes to features.

Jeep Meridian offers way more than what the Fortuner has in terms of luxury.

Skoda KODIAQ and VW Tiguan being the cars from a German brand is enough to be superior than the Fortuner.

But, this is where the twist is! The Fortuner’s spec sheet might convince you not to buy one, but, when what lies behind that sheet in the real world cannot!

Lets know about the reasons why Toyota Fortuner sells like HOT SAMOSAS every month?

RELIABILITY

Let’s move aside the Fortuner for a moment and talk about just the Toyota brand, we see reliability everywhere! Toyota’s every car not only in India but abroad India as well, they are so trusted in their reliable quality, that people end using them for lacs of Kms but they still work, sound and look as effortless as a Brand new Toyota car.

Same goes for the Fortuner. You use rough, you use it as you want to destroy it today, doesn’t matter because it will still work as fine as it was yesterday. And talking about Indians, they usually like to keep a car as long as it could move them from one place to other with utmost comfort.

Hence, reliability is the top reason for the Fortuner to sell so well in the market. 

LOW MAINTENANCE

Low maintenance is something which Indians would love having in their cars. With Indians it is always like they want to own a Skoda at a price of Maruti. And with the Fortuner you will just be unworrying about heavy maintenance bills because there won’t be any!

An average amount of maintaining a Fortuner for a year would cost just about ₹ 10,000. And it does feel like owning a Skoda at a price of Maruti, just think about it!

RESALE VALUE

Being amazing in-terms of Reliability the Fortuner sure has a bigger hand when it comes to SECOND HAND CAR MARKET. You buy one Fortuner today and use for the next 10 years, clock Lakhs of Kms on the Odometer and then get your car to sell off in the market, the most amount of depreciation you will see on your car will not be more than 40-45 %, which means that you bought a Fortuner for ₹ 50 Lakhs 10 years ago and you today are selling it off at the price tag of ₹ 15 -20 Lakhs. I will be intensely satisfied with this resale value on my 10 year’s old car.

COMFORT

We all are aware of what Indian roads has to offer us, potholes. So, to tackle such road condition the Fortuner has got a pleasant drive comfort. Being a Body -on-Frame vehicle, bad road conditions like ours and even Off-road are the aspects which the Fortuner doesn’t usually think much about.

But, as a coin has two sides, so, does the Fortuner. Being a Body-on-Frame vehicle, the Fortuner is equipped with all it’s characteristics like Soft Suspension, 4 x 4 mechanism, huge ground clearance etc. This really makes the ride quality of the Fortuner unstable or bouncy at the highway runs.

SPACIOUS

Indians are obsessed with carrying 2-3 occupants more than than what that car can actually carry. We can see numerous examples on-road of this fact. And the Fortuner being very spacious a family of 6 or even sometimes 7 people would love commuting or travelling in it. And it also adds up a point towards comfort being spacious.

By the way, Spaciousness has one more synonym in India, that how much luggage it could accommodate at once. And the Fortuner will never disappoint you by this because it has got plenty of space even when all the seats are up.

POWER

Power is something which is must when you are buying a car of this size or the purpose it serves. With the Fortuner, this is not a topic to think about because there’s humongous amount of power produced in the 2.8 L Diesel Engine which it has.

BRAND REPUTATION

Toyota cars have always been painless when comes to usability, thanks to Toyota’s reputation. By all these points mentioned above are in Toyota’s pockets, its easy to sell their cars as people are already sure that they will have a great experience using it.

SAFETY

Post Corona pandemic, Indians have become more aware about a cars safety. They don’t just want to but a piece of metal which takes them one place to another, but, they also want it to be safe. And the Fortuner has always won hearts when it comes to safety, the robust built of that car gives a sense of security being in it.

Trivia – Toyota claims that the reason they are not offering a sunroof is because they think that a sunroof just decreases the safety of a car.

PARTS AVAILIBILTY

It’s noticed that Indians hate sending or keeping their cars at the service stations for long. They expect the quality of service and convenience of it worry less. And with most other brands in this particular segment, availability of spare parts is the biggest challenge. But, for Toyota its not. Its rare that a Toyota’s customer is not happy with the quality of service it provides. And spare parts availability has never been an issue for Toyota.

STATUS SYMBOL

Last but not the least, The Status symbol. There’s no doubt that everyone wants to be the Alpha where ever they go. They want all attention on them. They want the audience to refer them as the Alpha over here, after all it’s a human trait. Indians find the Fortuner to be a tool of indirectly telling who’s the BOSS. Politicians, Celebrities, Businessman, etc all of them would have had or would have at least one Fortuner in their garage. It’s just to attain the status.

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, we all know that even though Fortuner being so unworthy to its price, it is still a great car. There will not be a single Fortuner owner who is not happy with his/her car. In a world, where today people are falling for gimmicky features and buying cars with no valid reasons, the Fortuner stands tall with a purpose to be bought.