The Etios/Liva project was very important from Toyota’s perspective as this was the first time Toyota was engineering a car specifically for India. Many Toyota engineers toured the length and breadth of India to find out what does the average Indian car buyer look for. The result was an extremely practically car with features that make absolute sense. In fact, a little bit too much sense.
In a bid to keep the cost low, Toyota compromised on the aesthetics of interiors. The grey tone interiors became the weakest link of the entire package. Took a long time for Toyota to figure out the Achilles heel but they have finally set the records straight.
Toyota India presented a Liva with revamped interiors at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo. Here we have images from the Expo. The new one is on the left and the old one is on the right for comparo.
As one can easily notice, the dull grey tone is passé and is replaced by a jet black tone. Changes have been made to the music system panel as well. The gear knob is now silver and not a flashy red one. We also noticed that the fit and finish of the panels have been improved dramatically.
Toyota also claimed that they have worked on the NVH levels of the Liva to make it quieter at high speeds (another major problem in the Liva). However, since we haven’t driven the new one, we cannot vindicate that claim.
Do you like the new interiors of the Liva?
