A year ago, Toyota and Suzuki announced that they would supply each other with vehicle models for the Indian market, with Suzuki providing the Baleno and Vitara Brezza to Toyota and the latter supplying the Corolla Altis to Suzuki. Under the JV agreement, the models would be sold by the respective Indian subsidiaries of both companies through their sales networks.
The first of these shared models to make its market debut is the rebadged Maruti Baleno, which is set to go on sale next month as the Toyota Glanza. The hatchback has been teased on Toyota India’s website, and news reports have indicated that the car is due to be launched in early June.
The reports add that the Glanza will have an exterior identical to the Baleno, with only a new chrome grille and Toyota/Glanza branding logos differentiating the siblings. Likewise, the interior, of which two interior trims will be available, that from the Baleno Zeta and Alpha variants. These will be largely unchanged for the Toyota version of the car.
The Glanza is expected to feature the K12M 1.2 litre petrol engine from the Baleno. In the Maruti application, the unit offers 83 hp and 115 Nm, and this is expected to be unchanged for the Glanza. Available transmissions will be a CVT and a five-speed manual gearbox.
The Glanza’s introduction will be followed by the Toyota-badged Vitara Brezza, but that won’t be so soon, with the SUV only expected to go on sale sometime between 2020 and 2021. As for the Suzuki Corolla Altis, that is looking unlikely to happen, because Toyota India has reportedly pulled the plug on introducing the new 12th-gen Corolla for the Indian market, effectively leaving the project without a donor car.
GALLERY: Suzuki Baleno 1.4L, GIIAS 2017
GALLERY: Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza
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Lejen
Lejen.
So after rebadging Mazda now they turn to rebadging Suzuki. Over 100 years old and still rebadging, their team must be sleeping on the job.
Toyota is known to be capable of producing any type of vehicle… Small sedan, hot hatch, luxury limo, sports coupes and supercars, SUV, MPV, diesel, 4×4 …you name it.
But why they still want to JV and rebadge cars from Mazda, Subaru, BMW, perodua and now.Suzuki?
The answer is simple. By selling more cars, the higher chances of them becoming no 1 in the world beating VW group and perhaps Hyundai.
Desperate move, as Toyota is not among the top 5 in India with market share of around 10%.
Only Innova and Fortuner are the well-known Toyotas in India.
If you want a good toyota, go and buy a mazda