Fresh!: Toyota Kirloskar vice-chairman Vikram Kirloskar (left) and managing director Sachio Yamazaki at the launch of the new Qualis in New Delhi on Wednesday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar.

New Delhi, Sept. 4: Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd today launched a restyled Qualis model, priced higher at Rs 8.50 lakh to meet perceived “customer demands for even better looks.”

The new Toyota Qualis-RS, as it is being called, is a seven-seater fitted with a dual air conditioning system, power steering and power windows. It comes in two engine variants, RZ-E (petrol-1998cc) and 2L (diesel-2446cc) both promising quiet, economical and fuel efficient drive. The making of the new model has absorbed fresh investment worth Rs 44 crore with 262 parts being changed, TKML vice-chairman Vikram Kirloskar said.

The new Qualis will be available in two-toned variants, including green metallic, beige, red mica metal, silver metallic, white and turquoise. It is armed with luxurious captain seats with armrests in the second row, power windows on all four windows, an exquisite wood panelling on the dashboard and a central door-locking system to ensure safety. The meters will light up in vivid blue to make easy reading.

Toyota also marginally raised prices for all its existing models. The Qualis-Fleet is now priced at Rs 5.17 lakh, an increase of Rs 4,500. Similarly, the FS model now comes with a price tag of Rs 6.55 lakh (an increase of Rs 10,000). In its range of GS models, G-5 is now priced at Rs 7.25 lakh, an increase of Rs 13,000, whereas G-8 is priced at Rs 8 lakh.

Shozo Hasebe, general manager, sales and marketing, Toyota Motor Corporation said, “We expect to sell at least 14,000 units of our new model by December end. We have sold more than 65,000 units of our initial Qualis till date. We hope sales will touch approximately 36,000 units by the next calendar year”.

Toyota holds a 24 per cent share of the Indian market for cars above Rs 5 lakh. TKML managing director Sachio Yamazaki said, “We hope to increase our market share in this segment from 24 per cent to 28 per cent by the end of this year.”