Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) agreed towards the mutual supply of hybrid and other vehicles between the two companies for the Indian market.
Toyota will supply the Corolla sedan to Suzuki, while Suzuki will share its Baleno hatchback and Vitara Brezza SUV with Toyota. These cars will be rebadged and sold through their respective sales channels.
Details on each model, such as the schedule of the start of supply, number of supplied units, vehicle specifications, and supply pricing, will be considered at a later stage.
It is expected that the vehicles will have different styling in order to distinguish them from their original counterparts. Mechanically, the cars would remain almost similar so as to keep the cost down. They might utilize the same engines and gearboxes as well.
With this move, both companies will be able to enter into segments where currently they do not cater to. Utilizing the Corolla, Suzuki will be able to offer an upgrade to Ciaz owners and make its entry into the executive sedan segment. The Baleno will allow Toyota to enter the premium hatchback segment and the Vitara Brezza will be Toyota’s debut in the compact SUV segment which has seen a tremendous rise in its market share.
Since February 6, 2017, when Toyota and Suzuki concluded a memorandum toward business partnership, the two companies have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components.
The November 2017 announcement of a memorandum of understanding between Toyota and Suzuki to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in the Indian market in around 2020 was one outcome of the joint exploration into the partnership.
