Soldier Of Fortune

The Toyota Fortuner is new in ways you could never have imagined, our first impressions.

- Bertrand D’Souza

The much-anticipated new Toyota Fortuner has finally been launched at a very attractive price in India. At just `27.6 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, that’s a very competitive price for a full-size 7-seat SUV. What makes it even more attractive is that this is a Toyota with enormous legacy in India. Toyota has ridden a wave of success in India on the back of products like the Innova and the Fortuner, so the new SUV has big shoes to fill.

Some of the most common concerns customers had with the older-generation Fortuner was its dowdy styling, both inside and outside. That has very obviously changed. Good or bad, however, is what you make of it. I’m not too fond of what I see. The design language that is emanating from Japan is highly polarising. For most Japanese manufacturers, automotive design has evolved in a big way, and by big I do mean big surfaces with large dominating front faces. Take a look at modern day cars from Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Honda, Nissan and now even Toyota. They all have a visually arresting but large and dominating front ends. The Fortuner, like the Innova which was also recently launched and shared similar attributes, exemplifies this excess. I don’t find it appealing, and yet somehow with all the ornamentation and that delicious wine/brown gloss and chrome detailing, it signals a call to attention. Even on the inside, I’m not a big fan of the design language but I can see how it presents a much more sophisticated demeanour than before. Its audience, as you know by now, loves it. So more power to Toyota, I say. A very contemporary element inside the cabin is the shallow dashboard which is both aesthetically pleasing and throws a smaller reflection on the windshield. Its high-quality surfacing and premium touch-and-feel components give it the necessary air of luxury, again signalling that the changes incorporated take this SUV more upmarket.