A push for Corolla sales

Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd is hoping to get its largely stagnant sales numbers for its Toyota Corolla model moving this calendar year via internet marketing and festive schemes, along with a launch of a special limited edition.

The Japanese car major, which is present in India thorough its joint venture company with the Kirloskar group, is expecting to push the Corolla''s sales to 8,000 units this year, as compared with 7,000 last year.

For some time now, sales of the Corolla have been more or less stagnant, even as competitor Honda''s Civic and City models, which are part of the same segment, have seen healthy sales.

According to B Ashish Kumar, general manager, Toyota Kirloskar Motors'' marketing division, value additions and attractive offers have assisted the company to push up sales of the Corolla. According to him, the limited edition of the Corolla received a huge response from the market, with the company selling 300 Corollas since the launch of the program in June 2007. What is interesting is that half of these sales, i.e. around 150 cars were sold via internet marketing.

The company is also planning a festive season campaign to further boost sales of all its models.

Kumar said Toyota''s vehicle sales this year would be led by Innova, which will grow to 45,000 units this year from 40,400 units last year. For its Camry model, the company expects the car to overshoot the targeted 1,000 units, and attain 20 per cent higher volumes at 1,200 units this year, as compared to 700 units last year.