Toyota Corolla Altis is the new D-segment king

Toyota has sold 922 units of the 2014 Corolla Altis in its first month. The Altis has shaken up the D-segment which is otherwise known to be a weak performing area in India. The Altis sold more than half the cumulative total of the segment that stood at 1820 units. The Elantra is the second best selling sedan in the D-segment at 343 units in June. The weakest car in the segment is the recently updated Renault Fluence managing to sell only 28 units last month.

Although it’s early days to declare the Altis a success, it seems to be headed in the right direction. This new Altis is charting a path quite similar to what the Fortuner maintains in its segment. Globally the 11th generation Altis with sales of over 40 million units to the Corolla moniker worldwide, it hasn’t set sales charts on fire but the Altis sure is in a strong position now. Toyota has infused a youthful appeal to the Altis in this new iteration true to the Japanese carmaker’s vision for the near future to build more emotionally stimulating designs. 

The Altis comes with 1.8-litre petrol engine developing 140PS of power and 173Nm of torque and a diesel engine dishing out 88.4PS of power and 205Nm of torque. The diesel is the weakest in the segment but is quite efficient. The focus of the Altis is rear seat comfort and legroom. In fact, it is the only car in its segment to offer reclining rear seats which is probably the deal maker for most buyers in this segment.