After taking away the Prius, Land Cruiser and the Prado from India, Toyota has now pulled the plug on four more vehicles. They are – Etios Liva, Etios Cross, Platinum Etios and the Corolla Altis. The decision to retire these models comes on the back of two main reasons. One, the cost of upgrading them to comply with BS6 (Bharat Stage 6) emission norms wouldn’t have made a strong-enough business case. And two, the vacated production capacity will help Toyota introduce more cross-badged models with Suzuki.

All four models came with the same diesel engine option. It was a 1.4-litre motor that produced 67bhp/170Nm in the Etios-branded cars. In the D-segment sedan, however, the engine pumped out 87bhp/205Nm. Those who wanted a petrol-powered heart, the Etios Liva and the Etios Cross came with a 1.2-litre engine with 79bhp/104Nm. There was also a 1.5-litre petrol motor (89bhp/132Nm) on offer but only with the Platinum Etios and the Etios Cross. As for the Corolla Altis, that came with the option of a 1.8-litre petrol engine (138bhp/173Nm) as well. All those power-plants and transmission options that they came with have gone out of production as well. At least for India. Toyota might still produce them for export purposes.

As of now, there are only five Toyota models on sale in India – the Innova Crysta (including Touring Sport), Glanza, Yaris, Fortuner and Camry Hybrid. All of them have gained the precious BS6 certification and will march into the next fiscal without a hiccup. Later this month, Toyota will launch the Vellfire MPV with a hybrid power-plant. That will arrive in India via the CBU (Completely Built Unit) route.

Cashing in on its agreement with Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toyota could soon venture into the subcompact SUV space with a mildly-modified Vitara Brezza. In times to come, the company will run the same experiment with two more Maruti Suzuki models – the Ciaz and the Ertiga.