2012 Toyota Fortuner Gets Facelift, New Features

Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011, 15:57 [IST]

The Toyota Fortuner has been one of the surprise top performers for Toyota in India. It not only created a new market segment in India but is also taking on more premium SUVs such as the BMW X3 and the Audi Q5. The Fortuner has become such a hit that Toyota was forced to stop bookings twice after the waiting list increased to unmanageable numbers.

Now the frenzy is set to begin again as Toyota is planning to launch a face-lifted version of the Fortuner. The 2012 Toyota Fortuner which was first seen in the Indonesian car show is already on sale. Do not be shocked. The new Fortuner is on sale in the gulf countries such as Oman.

The facelift to the Fortuner has not been very radical. The Japanese carmaker has only focused on giving the Fortuner a cosmetic improvement and has retained the engines and other mechanicals. Some of the notable changes in the new Fortuner are its chrome radiator grille and garnished rear license plate, cylindrical projector lamps.

The Fortuner's interiors also gets a facelift with the use of black wood grain paneling. The interior is now more akin to its other Toyota stable mates Prado and Land Cruiser. There are reports that state the seating arrangement in the new Fortuner will be different. There might be a bigger rear seat. We cannot be certain unless we see the Indian version.

The new Fortuner's engine specifications continue to be unaltered. There are two petrol engines and one turbocharged diesel engine. The two petrol engines are the 2.7-litre version for the Premium and the more powerful 4.0-litre for the Exclusive. The Diesel powered Grand gets the 4.00litre diesel pot. All these engines are mated to a five speed automatic gearbox.