Toyota has launched its sub-compact SUV in Japan, but how well can it do against the Hyundai Venue? We pit the two against each other
Toyota introduced the Raize in Japan on early this month, which is basically a rebadged version of the New Daihatsu Rocky. Toyota is looking to offer the sub-4m SUV in emerging markets, especially in Asia. With India being a prospective market for the Toyota Raize in the near future, let’s take a look at how well it can perform against one of the highest-selling sub-compact SUVs in India, the Hyundai Venue.
In terms of dimensions, the Toyota Raize has a length of 3,995 mm, a width of 1,695 mm, a height of 1,620 mm, has a 2,525 mm long wheelbase and has 369 litres of boot space.
| Dimensions | Toyota Raize | Hyundai Venue |
| Length | 3,995 mm | 3,995 mm |
| Width | 1,695 mm | 1,770 mm |
| Height | 1,620 mm | 1,605 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,525 mm | 2,500 mm |
| Boot space | 369 litres | 350 litres |
Compared to the Raize, the Venue measures same in terms of length, but is 75 mm wider, 15 mm shorter and has a 25 mm smaller wheelbase. The Raize also has 19 litres of extra boot space over the Venue.
The Raize features a boxy appearance, similar to the Maruti Vitara Brezza. It gets a mesh design for the front grille, which is treated in black and not chrome. Toyota offers the Raize with LED headlamps, fog lamps and tail lamps. It features 17-inch dual-tone alloy wheels, as compared to Venue’s 16 inchers. At the rear, the car sports a thick black strip adjoining the tail lamps.
The Raize gets a lot of plastic cladding on the exteriors and lesser chrome, which make the car look sporty as well as rugged, compared to the Venue which largely looks like an urban SUV. The Venue is certainly a good-looking car and has received a positive response in the Indian car market. Up front, it features Hyundai’s signature cascading grille, along with a split headlamp design with LED DRLs, headlamps and fog lamps.
The Venue gets stylish 16-inch diamond-cut alloys which enhance its overall look, along with functional roof rails and a shark fin antenna. At the rear, the car gets LED tail lamps, a faux skid plate and squarish reverse lights which are surrounded by reflectors. Hyundai offers the Venue with 7 monotone and 3 dual-tone paint schemes.
Toyota has loaded the Raize with features inside the cabin for Japan. To name a few, it gets a 9-inch floating touchscreen infotainment system, a 7-inch TFT multi-info display and a digital LED speedo. The SUV gets an all-black interior with red contrast stitching.
The Venue, on the other hand, gets an 8-inch infotainment integrated with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Hyundai has also equipped the Venue with its Blue Link connected-car tech which will let the owner know track driving habits, location, along with safety features like crash notification, SOS etc.
The remote connectivity lets the owner lock or unlock the doors, start/stop the engine and switch on the AC without getting in the car through the Blue Link app.
Toyota offers the Raize with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, paired to a CVT, which produces 98 HP of peak power and 140Nm max torque.
The Raize also gets a 4WD option with all its variants, which no sub-4m SUV in India does, however, we do not expect the said configuration to make it to the Indian shores.
The Venue gets two petrol and one diesel drivetrains in India, including a 1.2-litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine which makes 82 HP and 114 Nm, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which is rated at 118 HP/172 Nm, and a 1.4-litre diesel engine that churns out 89 HP of max power and 220 Nm peak torque.
Toyota has priced the Raize in Japan between 16,79,000 Japanese Yen (Rs 10.9 lakh) to 22,82,200 Japanese Yen (Rs 14.9 lakh). Hyundai Venue retails at a starting price of Rs 6.50 lakh (ex-showroom) and goes up to Rs 11.11 lakh (ex-showroom).
The car currently competes with Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Mahindra XUV300 in the sub-4m SUV segment. The Raize could be a compelling addition if Toyota decides to do so for India and we will have to wait and see what happens in the near future.