Maruti Suzuki & Toyota join hands to build Hyundai Creta rival for India

Suzuki and Toyota have joined hands at a global level to develop and sell all-new products and cross-badged products. In India, we have already seen rebadged vehicles like the Toyota Glanza based on the Baleno and Toyota Urban Cruiser based on the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. Well, the Japanese automobile giants will now work on an all-new SUV to enter the mid-size SUV segment in India. Both the manufacturers are currently missing from the mid-size SUV segment that offers popular choices like the Kia Seltos, Hyundai Creta, Tata Harrier and even the MG Hector.

According to ACI, Maruti Suzuki has informed the stock exchange in a regulatory filing that the plan of manufacturing the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza at the Toyota’s Bidadi plant in Karnataka from 2022 has changed. Instead of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza production at the Toyota’s plant, there will be an all-new vehicle, which will take on the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos head-on.

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The mid-size SUV will be the first all-new vehicle from the partnership in India. The manufacturing will take place at Toyota’s Bidadi plant from 2022. Toyota will hand over the Plant 2 to Maruti Suzuki to manage the production. Toyota will keep control of the other plant that produces the likes of Toyota Fortuner and Innova Crysta. The second plant, which will be controlled by Maruti Suzuki India produces cars like Yaris and the Camry Hybrid at the moment.

Now talking about the all-new mid-size SUV, it will be longer than 4-metres. The report mentions that the car will be 4.3-metre long and will be based on Toyota’s DNGA platform that is specifically designed for emerging markets like India. The all-new car will be available in two iterations that will be sold through Maruti Suzuki and Toyota dealership network respectively.

Even though both the iterations will share the platform. There will be heavy changes in the overall design of the vehicle to ensure that they look distinctive on the roads. Since the vehicles are being designed on a clean slate, Maruti Suzuki and Toyota will ensure that its respective products get the family DNA when it comes to design. Feature-wise, both the vehicles will have a long list of options that will be similar.

Both the vehicle iterations will not offer a diesel engine. However, there could be the possibility of two petrol engines. There will be a 1.5-litre K-Series engine available with the model. However, there is a chance of high-performance turb0-petrol engine too. It should be noted that both Kia Seltos and Hyundai Creta offer turbocharged-petrol engine option and also offer a naturally aspirated and a diesel engine.

Toyota and Maruti Suzuki are both absent from the mid-size SUV segment at the present. The segment is growing at a fast pace and even though both the manufacturers have cars selling in the international markets that will fit the segment perfectly, the development of an all-new product shows the importance of the segment. The launch of the all-new product is likely to happen in 2022.

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