Suzuki has had an excellent partnership with Toyota and together, both brands have shared quite a few badge-engineered products. One such badge-engineered product is Suzuki Across in Europe, which is a rebadged Toyota RAV4. However, for the African nation Seychelles, Suzuki has used the name Across for India-spec Victoris SUV. Let’s take a closer look.
Maruti Victoris Goes Global
Suzuki Across has been a badge-engineered version of Toyota RAV4 for markets like Europe. However, the company has used the same name for Seychelles market on an SUV known as Victoris here in India. This is Maruti Suzuki’s latest SUV and it is manufactured in India and then shipped to global markets including Seychelles in East Africa.
Launch is yet to happen, but Suzuki Across has been listed on the company’s official website. In Seychelles, Suzuki has a host of vehicles on sale including New Swift, New Dzire, Baleno, Ertiga, S-Presso, Jimny 3-Door, Jimny 5-Door, Eeco, Fronx, Grand Vitara and now Across.
It has to be noted that all other vehicles share their name with Indian counterparts, except for Across (Victoris). This renaming exercise could be due to trademark conflicts in Seychelles market, clashing with someone else’s intellectual property or maybe the company wants to use Victoris name with another product.
The Suzuki Across soon to be launched in Seychelles is manufactured in India and has the same design, other than its name. Even the colours and alloy wheel design look vastly similar to what is offered in India. Main difference can be seen on the inside where steering wheel is repositioned from RHD to LHD configuration.
Also, we can see Suzuki is using a darker shade for Across’ interiors and seat upholstery than what is offered here. Notable features like powered tailgate, 10.1-inch infotainment screen, 10.25-inch digital cluster, 360-degree camera, wireless charging pad, panoramic sunroof, Infinity premium speakers, a HUD, electric parking brake, ventilated seats, powered driver’s seat, auto climate control and other features are shared with Indian model.
Powertrains
Where powertrains are concerned, Suzuki Across in Seychelles gets the same powertrain combinations as India-spec Victoris, but not all of them. Across only gets the 1.5L 4-cyl NA Petrol engine with 101.6 bhp and 136.8 Nm, mated to either a 5-speed MT or a 6-speed torque converter automatic. Suzuki even offers AWD with Across, but not Hybrid. At least not at launch.
Also read – Maruti Suzuki Victoris CBG (Biogas) Unveiled
