Toyota Fortuner : I can never forget the day I saw a Fortuner for the first time.
The year was 2010, and the truck was parked in front of a five-star hotel in South Delhi, just a gleaming black behemoth with darkened windows on the street, looming over all its neighbors.
Because when the owner came out – a famous Gujarati industrialist – it hit me why the Toyota I was in had become the unofficial car of India’s power brokers.
For the better part of the last 15 years, Toyota’s Fortuner has meant more to its buyers than just a car – It has been an affirmation of its owner’s power, wealth and social elevation.
From politicos to cine stars, from tycoons to property barons, the Fortuner has become the chariot of choice for those who have power – or would like a little dose of it.
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Toyota Fortuner The Unmistakable Presence
A Fortuner does not do subtle. At 1,850mm tall, and just shy of 4.8 meters long, it owns road space with no apologies.
Thats a whopping 225mm of ground clearance, making it taller than a lot of cars on the road today, which might make the driver feel like someone who can look down on common traffic – in every sense of that phrase.
“There is a psychological edge to height,” said Vikram Singh, a body language consultant whom I consulted for this article.
“Physically being propelled up there changes how you perceive the world and others perceive you. It’s power posing for cars.”
A few days ago, I counted seven white Fortuners with different numbers of security personnel safety-belted inside parked along Parliament Street, Delhi’s corridor of power.
Their bearlike outlines provided a visual shorthand for authority that was hardly subtle.
It’s only a factor that’s been exaggerated by the 2023-24 facelift. The large front grille, detailed with a complex mesh design and sharp angular headlamps, conspire to make the car’s front end look almost predatory. It doesn’t so much come; it has an arrival announcement.
Toyota Fortuner Designed for Comfort and Dominance
What sets the Fortuner right for the power elite is not just its intimidating looks, but the delicate balance of raw aptitude and sophisticated ride quality.
Power comes from a 2.8-litre turbo diesel, which is good for 201 horsepower and a thumping 500 NM of torque – those numbers mean that this thing can quite literally warp space and time, despite tipping the scales in excess of two tonnes.
When I was recently testing this on the outskirts of Gurugram, I found the Fortuner to be able to go from a standstill to highway speeds with an enthusiasm unbecoming its size.
This performance is true to the power player. “For VIPs time is what other people do,” Rajesh Mehra, who supplies vehicles to several government departments, said over coffee last month.
Their cars have to be able to go — through the traffic, over the mountains, on the bad roads — without flinching.”
The cabin further enforces that sense of privilege. The high seating position provides excellent forward visibility over traffic and acoustic glass isolates the cabin from the pandemonium outside.
Making even a long day on the road well worth it are touches such as seats and steering wheel wrapped in quality leather with that reassuring feel to them, and this is backed up by a very decent second row that will allow staff or security to ride in some comfort within exceptionally spacious dimensions.
“My clients want vehicles where they are comfortable to work undisturbed in the back seat,” said Sanjay Khanna, who runs a fleet service for corporate executives in Mumbai.
“The Fortuner’s rear cabin is quiet enough for phone calls on our noisy streets even.”
Toyota Fortuner The Security Dimension
Just maybe, but what may draw the mighties is none other than the Fortuner’s security benefits.
Its high seating position enhances visibility, and its trucklike body-on-frame structure is more resistant to impact and intrusion than are the increasingly abstract structures of unibody crossovers.
At a Gurugram security vehicle modification workshop I attended (and which asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of their work), I witnessed the degree to which Fortuners are underplied for high-profile clientele.
So armored with bulletproof glass, fortified door panels, run-flat tires and communication systems, such vehicles already serve as mobile fortresses.
“The Fortuner is our best platform,” the workshop manager said, displaying to me a vehicle in the process of mid-conversion.
“The ladder-frame chassis gives us the strength to make the security modifications necessary, and Toyota is renowned for the reliability of its products, which will limit the potential for a breakdown in situations that could result in life-threatening applications.”
It’s not just a matter of a guard, but a sense of power, a security of ability…” The Fortuner’s part-time 4WD system, which is equipped with a low-range transfer case and good off-road performance, makes routes that are tough for regular vehicles easy.
When the floods ruined Chennai in 2015, it’s no secret that Fortuners were some of the civilian vehicles that could ply inundated streets, an attribute which isn’t lost on those, who need to get moving no matter what the conditions.
Toyota Fortuner The Status Equation
The Fortuner sits at a strange place in the Indian automobile status hierarchy. It’s priced from ₹33-51 lakh (ex-showroom), expensive enough to remain an exclusive choice and yet not steep enough to feel like a guilty purchase.
This price is right in the sweet spot to be the ideal option for the power player who wants to be seen as successful, but also as pragmatic.
“There’s a very calculated move going on,” said sociologist Dr. Ananya Ghosh, whose research revolves around consumption patterns among India’s elite.
“The Fortuner broadcasts success without the ostentation of a European luxury SUV. I think it’s the idea of power that you earn, as opposed to the power you inherit, that plays well against our current social consciousness.”
There was no better way to sum that up than a parking lot at a high-profile wedding I attended in Jaipur earlier this year.
The really old-money families showed up in chauffeur-driven German luxury sedans; the newer entrepreneurial class – the wheeler-dealers and string-pullers – were mostly represented by their Fortuners, many with the man at the wheel being the owner-driver.
Toyota Fortuner The Political Connection
No mention of the Fortuner’s power connections can be made without also mentioning its worshipped status by politicians.
From local MLAs to cabinet ministers, the Fortuner in white with a red beacon (or now more often without one, given bans on the beacon) has become as much a marker of having arrived in politics as the staple khadi kurta.
The Fortuner’s visibility was stunning during state elections in Uttar Pradesh that I had covered in 2022.
In front of the campaign office of every major candidate, a fleet of these enormous SUVs would gather in formation, giving the impression of strength and resources that was obviously someone’s, if not everyone’s, idea.
“In the heartland, the car you step out of dictates a little bit of how seriously people take you,” said a veteran political consultant, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. ”
We understand there is a class of first-time contestants who cannot afford to waste any time, that is why we are particularly recommending the Fortuner to them.
It’s the photographic equivalent of the back of the head of the dude at the head of the table with the PowerPoint presentation at work: an instant visual shorthand for authority.”
Status Beyond Status: The practice appeal Youth unemployment is high, and there are many reasons for this.
Though it may be a symbol of strength and high status, it would be wrong to look at the Fortuner as more than a status symbol. Its seduction if the powerful for centuries has been equally based in real usefulness.
It’s a Toyota – so you’ll experience a low level of ‘off the road’ time – a must for those who can’t afford down time.
A rugged build that can take the hits of Indian roads, with many users shuttling back and forth between cities and the hinterlands.
In an interview with Mohit Sharma, who has driven numerous politicians in five state elections, he stressed the pragmatic advantages: “We’ve taken these vehicles through places where most cars would have completely broken down – through flooded roads, rocky tracks to remote villages, through crowded markets where people are literally in contact with the vehicle.
Well, the Fortuner does it all being the good silent workhorse.
Toyota Fortuner Power Projection in the Future
However, as focus shifts from combustion vehicles to cleaner alternatives in the Indian automotive market, will the Fortuner continue to be the choice for the mighty?
The arrival of powerful Toyota hybrids (strong hybrids, if you must) reflects a recognition of shifting attitudes to suit the power elite with a somewhat green alternative buzzer that doesn’t diminish the power and prestige that’s made the Fortuner their prayerful pick.
For now, though, the Fortuner remains at the top of the pile.
But when I saw three identical white models of the vehicle with security escorts arriving at a high-level business summit in Mumbai last month, the message was clear: In the complicated language of power and status that unfolds on Indian roads, the Fortuner is still speaking with distinctive authority.
The muscle-bound SUV that you sealed in its bubble-wrap from Thailand almost 20 years ago is now something rather more significant than its creators intended – it’s not just a car, but a physical expression of power, influence and having made it to where other people would like to be.
