Nowadays the Toyota fortuner is the most popular full size SUVs in India.So popular that even the convoy of the Prime Minister of India boasts 6 Fortuners.That is still not enough for you to like this car?Okay,the lets look at some sales figures.According to gaadiwaadi.com , Toyota sold 1,302 Fortuners in the year 2019 while Ford sold 700 and Mahindra sold 101 Alturas G4s.As of 2020 the Fortuner still trumps both of its rivals by a mile with Toyota selling 1,472 of its Fortuner , Ford selling 852 Endeavours and Mahindra selling just 69 G4s.So it is pretty clear that Toyota rules the Indian market with the Fortuner.The bulletproof reliability and the high resale value are the main reasons why Indians love the Fortuner more than the Endeavour,even though it has better features tham the Fortuner.But today is not about comparison,it is all about how it all started.It was the year 2009 and it was almost 4 years since Toyota unveiled the hugely popular Innova in India.Now, Toyota had to fill the massive gap there as between the pricing of its Prado and the Innova.Toyota had already started selling the Fortuner in the Asian market but had not come to India yet.Thats when Toyota launched the Fortuner in India,which was really a game changer since the only real ladder frame 4X4 SUV Indian were getting were the Mahindra Scorpio and the Tata Safari.The Fortuner looked different and was designed to take on hills and go to the places where the Safari and Scorpio were unable to go.It looked manly and in the black colour looked almost like a tank.The front was different than any other SUV that was on sale in 2009,with LED projector headlamps and a simple bulb for high beam,a feature that I personally liked the most was the little mirror that was placed on the left side of the bonnet,I know that its just simply useless but it really helped to give the Fortuner the tank like look that no other SUV at that time had. On the side there is nothing special except the incredible ride hight and the optional running boards.The back also looks as butch as the front with no LEDs only bulbs for the breaklights and lights, but it was forgivable since it was 2009.The inside at that time was similar to the Innova with the aftermarket audio system that really didnt do much.The thing most people in the country were excited about were the offroading capabilities,Fortuner was a proper ladder frame SUV that had low range , full time 4 wheel drive and centre lockable differential.Power figures stood at an impressive 2982 cc of displacement , 171 BHP and 343 NM of torque.This was the ultimate go anywhere car that was designed to be a cheaper version of the legendary toyota Land Cruiser.The Fortuner was a 7 seater and was a very comfortable car.It was launched back in 2009 with a price tag of Rs18 lakh which was great.Today the Fortuner costs Rs40 lakh and is still the market leader,it goes on to show that no matter how much your product costs,if it is good, people will definitely buy it.
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