Toyota Urban Cruiser will be powered by BSVI compliant 1.5-litre SHVS petrol engine, paired with either a five-speed MT or a four-speed AT
After months of speculations, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has finally released the first teaser image of its first-ever compact SUV for India. Christened the ‘Urban Cruiser’ as we previously revealed, it will slot in the sub-four-metre SUV space to compete against Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV300 and Honda WR-V.
The compact SUV segment has seen increased takers in recent years and seemingly every manufacturer wants to hop on to the bandwagon. In the coming months, Kia will introduce the Sonet, Renault with the Kiger and Nissan, the Magnite. In response, Toyota will launch the Urban Cruiser and it is the latest development in its partnership with Suzuki.
The Japanese manufacturer has been reaping benefits from Maruti Suzuki’s local manufacturing prowess since the middle of last year as the Glanza became the first rebadged model out of the alliance. The Urban Cruiser follows the same route as it is a badge engineering version of the highly success Vitara Brezza and will have mild visual updates to differentiate itself from its donor.
The teaser image shows the presence of a shadowed Urban Cruiser with the hint of its 16-inch alloy wheels and Toyota badge grafted on to the twin horizontally slated front grille shown. It will resemble the Vitara Brezza in terms of dimensions and thus the ground clearance of 198 mm will likely be retained. The upright stance and tall pillars will remain similar to the Vitara Brezza.
As for the interior, the Toyota Vitara Brezza will boast of features such as a large touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, cloud-based functions, multi-functional steering wheel with mounted controls, automatic climate control and so on.
It will be powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder K15B BSVI petrol engine with SHVS technology. It develops a maximum power output of 104.7 PS and 138 Nm of peak torque, and is paired with either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. Expect the price range of the Toyota Urban Cruiser to hover around Rs. 7 lakh to Rs. 11 lakh (ex-showroom).
Compared to its donor, the five-seater could get more attractive warranty and financial options to lure in customers. Currently, on the AT variants of the Vitara Brezza get Smart Hybrid tech and the Urban Cruiser could follow the same trend.