The global partnership between Suzuki and Toyota is getting ready to launch their first all new car. In India, their association has resulted in products like Toyota Glanza and Urban Cruiser. However, these cars are just rebadged versions of their respective donor models- Baleno and Vitara Brezza.
What has now been spied, are completely new cars. These will be launched later this year. Toyota version is likely to launch first around Diwali 2022 while the Maruti version of this SUV is likely to be launched in Jan 2023. These will take on the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos along with newbies like Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq.
These two C-segment compact SUVs are being co-developed by both manufacturers. From the no plates of test mules, it seems that these were developed in Haryana, which is where Maruti’s manufacturing plant is located. We can expect another set of test mules to appear on roads around Bangalore with KA number plates soon. Toyota India is located near Bangalore.
Test mules of these upcoming SUVs have been spied again -in both their respective Maruti and Toyota avatars. Both test units were wrapped under heavy camouflage leaving very little to disclose anything significant. Internally codenamed YFG by Maruti and D22 by Toyota, one thing is clear that both iterations of the SUV will be very different from each other in terms of their styling.
For instance, Maruti’s version of the SUV gets a split lights setup up front with LED DRLs above and main headlamp clusters below. This is similar to Suzuki’s mid-size crossover A-Cross which itself is based on Toyota’s RAV4. Front grille on YFG has similar inserts that are on new Baleno and will also be seen in upcoming Ertiga facelift. Suzuki’s logo takes centre stage on the grille.
On Toyota’s iteration, the SUV also gets a split lighting setup upfront, however, this one gets twin LED DRLs positioned along the edge of the bonnet. Like other Toyota models including Camry and the upcoming Glanza, D22 features a thick chrome strip running across the width of front grille. Front bumper houses a larger air dam with a honeycomb mesh pattern inside.
Common exterior elements on both test units include 17-inch wheels, turn indicators mounted on ORVMs, prominent squared-off wheel arches and decent ground clearance around 200mm. One of the spy photos also gives a peek on the inside. There seems to be a free standing touchscreen unit in the center. We expect them to be well loaded with features and offer different aesthetics to each other.
Both versions of the SUV will be underpinned by Toyota’s DNGA (Daihatsu New Global Architecture) which is a more affordable version of TNGA that underpins Camry Hybrid. Maruti will be supplying powertrain to this upcoming SUV which is most likely to be a 1.5-litre K15B naturally aspirated petrol motor. This unit is expected to be mated to a hybrid motor to deliver additional power and fuel efficiency.
Maruti offers 1.5 liter petrol engine on their existing cars like Ciaz, Ertiga, Brezza. This unit kicks out 104 bhp and 138 Nm of torque. Transmission duties are likely to be handled by a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed torque converter. Maruti Toyota SUV prices are likely to be in the Rs 10-15 lakh range, ex-sh.
This post was last modified on March 13, 2022 9:11 am