Ahead of its launch in Sep 2020, bookings of the new Toyota Urban Cruiser SUV will start from 3rd week of next month
It is old news that Toyota has been planning on the Vitara Brezza based Urban Cruiser SUV for a while now. What many are now waiting for, is news about the launch of this rebadged Brezza SUV. Well, there is good news.
As per sources, Toyota is expected to drop the first official teaser video of Urban Cruiser very soon. Bookings will also open from next month, from 22nd August 2020, while launch will take place in September. Deliveries of Urban Cruiser will start by end of Sep. It is to be noted here, that in the same month, Kia will also launch Sonet SUV, which is a rival to the Urban Cruiser.
The Urban Cruiser will be the second Indian product which will be a result of Suzuki & Toyota’s global partnership. In the past, Toyota had launched the Glanza, which is basically a Toyota badged Baleno.
Changes?
Unlike the Glanza, which looks almost identical to the Baleno, Toyota has worked upon differentiating the Urban Cruiser from Vitara Brezza. This would include considerable changes to the soft parts like grille/bumper, both at the front and rear. However, to cut down on costs, Toyota will not be making any modifications to the sheet metal or alloy wheels, which it intends to directly carry over from the standard Vitara Brezza. Headlights and Tail Lamps might get minor tweaks, though even this design change might be dropped in favour of cost cutting benefits.
On the inside too, Toyota plans to add in more of a Toyota feel to the SUV. It intends to go in for lighter colours and use fresh graphics to provide an updated look to the interiors. This means that there will be more differentiating factors than just the badge on the steering wheel if we were to compare interiors of the Brezza and Urban Cruiser.
Engine
Powering the Urban Cruiser will be the same 1.5 liter petrol 4 cylinder engine which is seen on board the Maruti Brezza. This engine is rated to deliver 104 PS and 138 Nm. It is mated to either a manual transmission or an automatic gearbox.
Globally, Toyota is known for its love, focus and specialization with Hybrid vehicles. There is a possibility that Toyota might launch the Urban Cruiser along with mild hybrid tech even on the manual variant. This will help the Urban Cruiser to become considerably more fuel efficient than its counter part – Vitara Brezza MT (17.03 kmpl) which misses out on the Hybrid on its manual variant. As per initial reports it looks like Toyota will be bringing in the Hybrid tech to all its range, including manual and automatic transmission option variants.
Production of the Urban Cruiser will be done by Maruti SUzuki. The Urban Cruiser will be assembled on the same line on which Maruti assembles the Vitara Brezza. Costing of the sub 4 metre SUV is expected to be around INR 7.5 lakhs and 11.5 lakhs. Competition of the Urban Cruiser will comprise of models like the Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and upcoming cars like Renault Kiger, Nissan Magnite and Kia Sonet.
