Toyota, the Japanese automaker and the world's largest car manufacturer is struggling to find a hold in the budget car segment of India, which is largely dominated by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. To cash on the success of Maruti Suzuki and to reduce manufacturing expenses, Toyota joined hands with Maruti Suzuki and launched the Toyota Glanza as their first offering.
The Toyota Glanza was essentially a rebadged Maruti Suzuki Baleno and couldn't find much buyers in the domestic market. Now Toyota is set to launch its next model in India this festive season. The second offering will be introduced in India’s most hotly contested compact SUV segment and will be based on the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza.
Called the Toyota Urban Cruiser, the compact SUV will have a distinct personality and plenty of elements that will set it apart from the Vitara Brezza. On the outside, the car will speak Toyota’s design language like its other models. On the inside, the car is speculated to get lighter-coloured upholstery and trim, different from the black theme in the Vitara Brezza.
Needless to mention, the car will also carry the same powertrain as the Vitara Brezza. This means that on offer would be the same 1.5-litre petrol engine that outputs 105hp and 138Nm of torque. Several reports also suggest that the car will also benefit from Maruti Suzuki’s SmartHybrid mild-hybrid system on both of its transmission options – manual and automatic. In comparison, the Vitara Brezza only gets the mild-hybrid system with the four-speed torque-converter auto.
The Urban Cruiser will also have the same number of variants as its Maruti Suzuki counterpart, something that we saw in the Glanza before. Toyota is also most likely to offer the car with its 3year/1,00,000km warranty, as opposed to the 2 year/40,000km on the Vitara Brezza.
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The Vitara Brezza has been the crowned model in the compact SUV segment in India. Nevertheless, the Urban Cruiser will see stiff competition from badges like the Hyundai Venue and Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport and Mahindra XUV 300. In addition to the well-established cars, it will also face upcoming monikers like the Kia Sonet, Renault Kiger and Nissan Magnite that are expected to be introduced this year as well.
Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more Toyota updates and other four-wheeler news.
