Toyota Hilux bookings closed temporarily. Toyota has announced that bookings for the recently revealed Hilux Pickup have been halted temporarily. The reason cited for this temporary halt is the high demand for the vehicle and it does look like the supply chain is unable to keep up with the demand.
The Toyota Hilux is one of the most revered names in the car world. It is a legendary brand and the Hilux is one of the most capable vehicles in the world. Eager buyers have been waiting for Toyota to launch the Hilux in India and it became one of the most-awaited vehicles in India.
On 20 January 2022, Toyota revealed the Hilux for the Indian market and opened bookings for the same. It was quite obvious that demand for the pikcup truck was high because of the number of people waiting for it.
The lifestyle pickup segment in India has grown immensely over the last few years. It all started with the launch of the Tata TL 4×4 way back in 2005. Back then however, there were barely any takers for the rugged pickup. Then came the Mahindra Scorpio Getaway and the Tata Xenon.
While these were brilliant pickup trucks, they didn’t really appeal to the lifestyle audience. They were still used as workhorses for moving equipment and goods. Things really changed with the launch of the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross in 2016. This is when people started adopting the pickup truck as a lifestyle vehicle and not just as a utility vehicle.
Unfortunately, Mahindra discontinued the Scorpio Getaway and so did Tata with the Xenon. Since 2016 then, if you were in the Indian market for a pickup truck, you could buy only the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross. Buyers were eagerly waiting for Isuzu to launch the third-gen V-Cross in India, but that didn’t materialise as Isuzu launched only a facelift of the second-gen as the BS6 model.
While all of this was happening in the pickup segment in India, as early as 2018, there were quiet whispers of Toyota launching the Hilux in India. However, there were no clear indications of the same until 2021. Now, in 2022, the vehicle has been revealed and bookings were opened.
Due to unavailability of other options in the market, and also majorly because of the legendary ‘Hilux’ brand name, the demand for the Hilux seems to have been very high. So high in-fact that Toyota has had to resort to temporarily stop taking in bookings for the Hilux.
A statement released by Toyota said, “However, in light of various factors impacting our supply, we are unable to meet the heightened demand. Thus, we deeply regret our temporary halt of bookings for the Hilux with a view to avoid any further inconvenience to our customers. We will continue our best efforts to resume the Hilux bookings at the soonest possible opportunity, with our aim to provide the best customer experience.”
The Toyota Hilux in India is powered by a 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine. It puts out 200bhp and 420Nm in the manual transmission variant. The automatic variant has a higher torque output of 500Nm! With this, it is the vehicle with the highest torque output in the segment.
The pickup truck is loaded with features including LED lighting, stylish alloy wheels, electronic differential locks, limited-slip differential, 8.0-inch infotainment unit with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic climate control, etc.
Thoughts On Toyota Hilux Bookings Being Stopped Temporarily
We had speculated that there will be a significant number of bookings for the Hilux in India. However, we didn’t think it would be high enough for Toyota to halt the bookings temporarily. Is it the high demand or are there some issues with the supply chain that has actually led to the bookings being stopped? Only time will tell. All eyes are on March 2022 when the prices will be revealed and deliveries will begin.
Keyword: Toyota Hilux Bookings Stopped Temporarily: Is High Demand The Cause?