Toyota Fortuner, Legender Mild Hybrids Launched In India: Details
Toyota had announced last year that they had plans to launch a mild hybrid version of their popular SUV, the Fortuner, in the Indian market. The Fortuner MHEV was first launched in the South African market and has now finally arrived in the domestic market. The car is officially priced at Rs 44.72 lakh, ex-showroom, for the regular version and Rs 50.09 lakh, ex-showroom, for the Legender version. Bookings for the Fortuner and Legender MHEV or Neo Drive version have started, and deliveries for the same will happen in the coming weeks.
Toyota Fortuner is one of those SUVs which has managed to stay in demand despite being priced steeply. The newly introduced mild hybrid tech is actually going to make the SUV a lot more appealing to customers who were worried about the car’s fuel economy. The MHEV version is around Rs 2 lakh dearer than the regular diesel version. Just like the international version, the update is available only on the diesel variant. Toyota is differentiating the MHEV with a Neo Drive badge, and they are calling this tech by the same name as on the Hyryder.
Mild Hybrid Tech
The MHEV, or Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle technology, was first introduced in the Hilux pickup truck internationally a few years ago. This newly introduced technology is similar to what we have seen in Maruti cars in India. It is a mild hybrid system that assists the engine at lower RPMs and helps improve overall fuel efficiency.
This technology is available with the diesel version of the Fortuner, which uses a 2.8-liter turbocharged engine. This engine generates 201 Bhp and 500 Nm of peak torque and is bundled with a 48V mild hybrid system.
As mentioned above, this technology improves fuel efficiency. The SUV now has a claimed fuel efficiency of 13.15 kmpl, which is slightly more than the 12.66 kmpl of the non-hybrid version.
The mild hybrid tech is available only with the automatic version of this SUV. The SUV also gets features like idle start-stop, a 360-degree camera, and terrain modes. Apart from this, everything else about the Fortuner remains the same as before. The SUV continues to offer safety features like 7 airbags, hill ascent and descent assist, and traction control.
Internationally, both the 2WD and 4WD versions of the Fortuner get the mild hybrid system, but it looks like we will be getting this feature with the 4WD version only. The international version also gets the Toyota Safety Sense ADAS suite, which is missing in the Indian version.
In India, Toyota offers the Fortuner with both petrol and diesel engine options. The petrol version of the SUV is powered by a 2.7-liter unit, while the diesel version uses the 2.8-liter engine. Both petrol and diesel engine options are offered with manual and automatic transmissions. However, only the diesel version is offered with the 4×4 system.
Prices for the Toyota Fortuner currently start at Rs 35.37 lakh, ex-showroom, and go all the way up to Rs 51.94 lakh, ex-showroom, for the top-end GR-S 4x4 AT variant.