The Toyota-badged version of the Vitara Brezza is expected to be launched later this year and could sport a visual makeover to make it look unique
As a part of the global agreement between Toyota and Suzuki, both the Japanese carmakers share a few products and technologies. This partnership also resulted in the Maruti Suzuki Baleno being rebadged and sold by Toyota Kirloskar Motor as the Toyota Glanza.
Similarly, Toyota will also make use of some other Maruti vehicles, including the Vitara Brezza SUV. According to the recent speculations, Toyota will name the product ‘Urban Cruiser’, and this name was trademarked by the Japanese carmaker in India about two years ago.
However, unlike the Glanza which features almost no visual changes as compared to the Maruti Baleno, the Urban Cruiser will reportedly not be limited to badge-engineering and different paint schemes. Instead, Toyota’s version of the SUV could feature an updated design, to put it in line with the Japanese carmaker’s global design language.
This rendering depicts how the end-product could look like, however, this rendering has basically been created by combining the Vitara Brezza with the Toyota Raize crossover, sold in the foreign markets.
But under the hood, the Toyota sub-compact SUV is expected to be offered with the same 1.5-litre K15B petrol engine that the Vitara Brezza gets. The said powertrain generates 105 PS of maximum power, along with 138 Nm of peak torque. The transmission duties are handled by a 5-speed manual, and an optional automatic gearbox.
Maruti Suzuki currently retails the Vitara Brezza at a starting price of Rs 7.34 lakh, which goes up to Rs 11.4 lakh (both prices, ex-showroom), and we expect Toyota to price it’s version of the SUV similarly. Upon launch, the car will go on to compete against the likes of the donor car – Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, while also put up against the Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Ford EcoSport and the Tata Nexon as well.