Believe it or not, Suzuki has a long standing partnership with Toyota. it’s most prevalent in the African market with several Suzuki models badged as Toyotas. But this time around, the collaboration will take a new direction.
In 2025, a new electric SUV will be filling Toyota dealers all over the world, and that budget EV crossover will be care of Suzuki.
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Suzuki has been on an electric roll recently. At the 2024 Philippine International Motor Show in October, Suzuki showcased its electric SUV concept, the futuristic Suzuki eVX. And just a couple of days ago, it debuted its first production electric car, the e-Vitara, in Milan, Italy.
At the moment, Toyota hasn't given away too much regarding its Suzuki-made EV. Toyota has only stated that it will be an SUV, it will have a 4WD system, and it will be able to drive on some rough roads. Along with a sufficient driving range and a comfortable cabin—standard EV stuff for 2024.
Interestingly, everything mentioned in the brief also describes the e-Vitara. It's also worth pointing out that the Suzuki and Toyota EVs have release dates for sometime in 2025.
Although, Toyota also did confirm that the EV will be manufactured at the Suzuki plant in Gujarat, India—which is where the e-Vitara will also be assembled. This makes a good chance that we may be seeing an e-Vitara will a few Toyota-themed modifications next year.
Thankfully, Toyota shared that this new EV will be receiving a global release right from the get go. The Toyota bZ4X came a bit late (and gray) to the Philippine market, and Subaru never launched its Toyota-counterpart, the Subaru Solterra, locally. The EV market in the Philippines is rapidly growing and Toyota and Suzuki could take the lead on the e-SUV side.
With a Toyota-Suzuki collaboration, we're also crossing our fingers for an accessible price range too.
