New Toyota Innova, Fortuner spied

Here are the spy pictures of the soon-to-be-launched Toyota Innova and its hot selling Fortuner SUV. Both the Toyotas were spotted by our alert reader C.B Subbaiah in Bangalore.

Unveiled at the Indonesian Motor Show, the Innova gets a substantial facelift, with new lights and grille, and the profile has been altered slightly as well. The upright grille sits more vertically than the current car, making the bonnet look less van-like. The new headlights have been stretched over the fenders, and the fogs and chin are new as well. The MPV also gets new alloy wheel designs. The styling updates at the rear include a new bumper, re-styled number-plate housing and re-profiled tail lamps.

There are minor tweaks to the interiors; the manual AC controls get bigger knobs, new audio system, wooden inserts for the centre console, new upholstery and a new steering wheel which may be borrowed from the Corolla Altis. We don’t expect any major changes to the current 2.5-litre common-rail diesel motor, however, it could be updated to deliver more power and torque.

The Fortuner too receives a facelift and now sports an all-new nose design which gives the SUV a wider and more aggressive stance. It gets new headlamps that are slightly stretched, a restyled and sculpted bonnet with a larger scoop for the air-intake, a re-profiled bumper and a wider redesigned chrome grille that makes it resemble the Land Cruiser. On the inside, it gets new seats and darker wooden trim.

Toyota hasn’t changed the SUV’s side profile but the rear now gets new clear-lens tail lamps that have a different profile from the current ones.

The current Fortuner is powered by a 3.0-litre common-rail diesel motor that churns out a respectable 169bhp. This is the same motor that does duty in the Land Cruiser Prado as well, although the Prado gets more torque. The Fortuner may be given this step up as well for India. An automatic version is on the cards as well.

Now what remains to be seen with these updated models is whether Toyota maintains the current price line. Both the Innova and the Fortuner have easily seen off many recent threats from competitors and with no creditable rivals in sight, Toyota may just take the opportunity to stretch the margin on these models when they are launched in the first half of 2012.