Toyota to build the Vitara Brezza for Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki has decided to stop manufacturing its popular sub-4 meter SUV Vitara Brezza come 2022. Instead, the company will source the Vitara Brezza from Toyota as part of its 2017 MoU. The MoU has been expanded and now includes joint production according to reports. To let you know, the Vitara Brezza is the best selling sub-4 meter SUV in the market and Maruti Suzuki sells an average of more than 10,000 units of the vehicle every month. It competes with the likes of the Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon and the Mahindra XUV300 among others.

Apart from manufacturing and supplying the Vitara Brezza to Maruti Suzuki, Toyota will also launch its own Brezza in the coming time. It will be a rebranded product with a few changes across the vehicle in order to make it a bit different from its Maruti counterpart. It is expected that Toyota will manufacture the new version of the Vitara Brezza and not the current generation model, which will pave way for a new generation model before 2022. The manufacturing will take place in one of the two factories of Toyota Kirloskar Motors from 2022. This will allow both companies to cut production costs along with expanding their product lineup, resulting in better gains from the market. According to the contract between both the manufacturers, this will be the second model to be shared between them, the first one being the Maruti Suzuki’s Baleno which Toyota would start selling from later this year.

The MoU, signed in February 2017, was expanded last week and now includes sharing of several other vehicles like the Ertiga and Ciaz. The expanded partnership between the two Japanese heavyweights includes joint production, promotion of electrified vehicles, sharing of engines, and technology exchange among others. The MoU is aimed at technology partnership in environment, safety and information, and mutually supplying products and components. The aim of this MoU, as mentioned earlier, will be to cut down on expense and focus more on products and the market. However, Maruti Suzuki will continue being the sole manufacturer of Baleno.

Toyota will soon launch a rebranded Baleno with some additions and changes and will challenge the likes of the Hyundai Elite i20 and the upcoming Tata Altroz premium hatchback among others. Maruti Suzuki, on the other hand, plans to launch a rebranded Corolla Altis sometime in 2020. It will be the new generation variant that will be launched by Toyota in 2020 and will be positioned as the flagship vehicle in Maruti’s portfolio. Apart from Maruti Suzuki and Toyota, other manufacturers like Ford and Mahindra too have joined hands for sharing engines and technology. The manufacturers now want to focus on building better vehicles and cut down on production costs.

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