[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

That being said, spare a thought for the Maruti sales team. They've maintained market leadership after relentless effort across decades, only to see THIS day? When they would have to compete with a much stronger / richer brand selling THEIR own products?! This isn't the "same family" like Renault-Nissan. This is truly a salesperson's worst nightmare!

It is just ruthless for them. I experienced this myself when I was in the market recently checking out the Dzire and Baleno. Either SA could not really say much against the other car and just accepted the fact that there is nothing much to choose apart from the body shape and associated pros and cons. Here we are talking about the same car which will be even more difficult to differentiate.

Now, let's move forward. Outrage / congratulations are all fine. But let's wear our thinking caps for a moment. Indians didn't really warm up to this cross-badging strategy in Renault Nissan's case - we only bought the cheaper car (Duster over the Terrano, Micra over the Pulse) much more.

Same here. Toyota enjoys a certain monopoly int he higher segments riding its tough long lasting built and impeccable after sales. But the player on the other side of the net is MSIL now which probably sets the standard for after sales, resale, FE and service availability in the Indian market. I am sure that people will see through this quickly enough and opt for the cheaper variant. But whatever be said, this must be grave news for the rest of the players in the market. For the last 2 decades now they have not found any concrete answer to the onslought brought by MSIL and Toyota in their respective segments and both cars have so far enjoyed the highest level of success. Now to fight the combined strength of both sounds like an even more unimaginable task.

[altius]

It seems obvious that Maruti Suzuki will benefit very much from this deal - access to toyota's hybrid & electric tech and possibly diesel engines to replace fiat's engines, entry to higher segment by selling rebadged corolla's and selling Baleno and other models Toyota. I am wondering if Toyota will benefit as much as Suzuki. I would guess most people would probably buy Maruti Baleno or even a Maruti Branded Corolla given it that Maruti has a much better sales and service network and they will be likely cheaper as well. I am sure Toyota would have thought about all these aspects. Just wondering.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

That being said, spare a thought for the Maruti sales team. They've maintained market leadership after relentless effort across decades, only to see THIS day? When they would have to compete with a much stronger / richer brand selling THEIR own products?! This isn't the "same family" like Renault-Nissan. This is truly a salesperson's worst nightmare!

Not sure it will be the same products as we see today.

IMO, Baleno will be the Hybrid variant and Vitara Brezza will be the Petrol and Hybrid variants.

[volkman10]

Maruti Suzuki gets lion’s share of Suzuki R&D budget.

Most of the $1.5 billion allocated by Suzuki Motor Corp. for its research and development (R&D) activities will be spent on its most profitable unit Maruti Suzuki and help the Indian firm maintain its 50% market share amid increasing competition from European and Korean manufacturers.
The money will be used to upgrade Maruti Suzuki’s existing models to Bharat Stage VI emission norms—most stringent globally—by 2019, to develop an entire range of hybrid vehicles and other alternative technologies

A full range of hybrid vehicles—from the current SHVS or mild hybrid, to full hybrid and plug-in ones—will also be developed by the company in association with Toyota.

The company would also invest in developing electric vehicles and related infrastructure like charging stations and making other components of electric vehicles. The development of more fuel efficient gasoline engines is also on the cards

The company will focus on making the full range of hybrids as meeting the CAFE (corporate average fuel efficiency) norms will be impossible without hybrids,

Link

[volkman10]

Toyota Suzuki cross badged cars will evolve into Hybrid technology that will be the transitional phase to EV's.

the tieup would also help enhance its hybrid strategy.

But more than external looks, it is the underlying potential of a technology evolution in the vehicles that is an exciting prospect.

Toyota hopes the agreement with Suzuki will help broaden the base for hybrid vehicles and bring in the volumes to justify localization. Toyota has hybrids for hatchbacks — Aqua in Japan and Yaris in Europe — that can be adapted to hatchbacks in the Suzuki lineup.

Source:

[volkman10]

Suzuki - Toyota tie-up details to be finalized by end of 2018-19.

The Suzuki-Toyota tie-up in India relates specifically to exchanging, rebadging and selling each others’ cars in the country.

A more definite timeline of events will also emerge towards the end of the year

Link

[Jeevith]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Suzuki - Toyota tie-up details to be finalized by end of 2018-19.

Oh! Not the best news. I had assumed that a Suzuki D segment sedan would be on the roads by mid to late 2019. Guess this is not happening anytime soon.

[volkman10]

Toyota and Suzuki Collaborations takes shape, exports of Suzuki and Toyota products to dedicated markets.

Toyota and Suzuki Agree to Start Discussing Joint Projects for Technological Development, Vehicle Production, and Market Development.

Scope of the partnership goes much beyond India, as both partners intend to use the alliance to tap into the markets of Africa and other global markets.

Discussion topics:

-Denso Corporation and Toyota to provide Suzuki with technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain to be developed by Suzuki.

-Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd. (TKM) to produce models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through each of the Toyota and Suzuki brand network.

-Supply of models developed by Suzuki, including those to be produced by TKM (as mentioned above), from India to African and other markets by Toyota and Suzuki, employing each of the Toyota and Suzuki sales networks to sell such vehicles, and advancing cooperation in the domains of logistics and services.

[volkman10]

TOYOTA to make Suzuki cars in India. This could address the low utilization of Toyota plants in India. These cars will be sold by both Suzuki and Toyota outlets.

Toyota, Suzuki announce plans for Make-in-India cars for the world - sold through their respective outlets.

Initial cars are speculated to be Baleno and the Vitara Brezza and Corolla.

Denso Corporation and Toyota's will be providing Suzuki with technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency power-train to be developed by Suzuki.

The powertrain for these cars is also likely to be born of this partnership and is likely to be one of the most efficient motors in the world. Expect that it will use an extrapolation of the motor that Toyota showcased last year.

HYbrids - EV's and fuel efficient ICE will be the next focus for Suzuki- Toyota for India.

With now Suzuki freeing up a bit of production capacity, will Swift Sport, Suzuki Jimny/ Gypsy stand a better chance to be sold in India?

Suzuki will also now have products in the higher reaches of the Indian market.

Link

[volkman10]

Toyota to enhance localisation in Brezza, Baleno to make them cost effective , but expect the pricing to be premium to Maruti Suzuki's Brezza/Baleno.

Japanese auto major Toyota plans to increase local content of Baleno and Vitara Brezza models which it will receive from compatriot Suzuki for selling in India under their partnership to make them price competitive

The likely changes to be brought in the two models "are still under work-in-progress and how the final products gets rolled out will be known over the course of time

Link

[srishiva]

I see Toyota getting more in the short term with access to smaller car segment in which it is not present. In turn Suzuki will get technology assistance in efficient engine development and Corolla ! I hope Suzuki gets more out of this partnership.

Its tricky for Toyota if the Indian consumer thinks they are selling the same car at a higher price. Engines could be the differentiation, but then not something the mass market would care about much. It could be great if hybrid powertrain would be something that differentiates but then again the price would limit the market. So if they make something that looks good and gives small enough assistance through smaller hybrid capacity add-on, it could start making a dent.

[volkman10]

New Suzuki Jimny currently is manufactured in Kosai - Japan. Brazil and India are other other speculated plants for building Jimny.




With Suzuki- Toyota further detailing its alliance. Jimny could be sold in USA under the Toyota brand.

reports say that Suzuki is working out a deal with Toyota to ship the next generation Jimny into The US under a different name, and that Toyota is keen to approve this request due to the good prospects of off-roaders in the US. The Toyota-badged version of the upcoming 4th generation Jimny will be sold as a significantly smaller variant of their yet to be launched TJ Cruiser. This move would be part of Toyota's attempt to diversify their body-on-frame SUV segment in The US with a compact model.

Link

[super.cars]

Are these early signs of possibility of Suzuki absorbed into Toyota?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by super.cars

Are these early signs of possibility of Suzuki absorbed into Toyota?

I think Suzuki being absorbed by TMC is only a matter of time. Suzuki will retain its brand name as did Daihatsu & Hino.

Japs would prefer outsiders (AKA the "gaijin") NOT buying their brands & companies. It's a matter of the country's pride. Hence they would rather sell one Jap company to another Jap conglomerate or company. This is actively encouraged by the Japanese Govt.

[su1978]

Thank God. Two Japanese merging with each other would be good news. Toyota would never compromise on the quality of cars they would produce. The rattles and squeaks which are a part and parcel of Maruti produced cars would cease to exist. Hence we can expect better built cars in future. Also the Japanese philosophy of respect for manpower would exist as we have known from times immemorial.

Secondly, hope that the maintenance cost of Toyota produced Brezza and Baleno would also go down.