Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


Closed Thread
  Search this Thread
182,369 views
Old 4th February 2019, 14:49   #1
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: --
Posts: 23,271
Thanked: 67,350 Times
Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Toyota’s version of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza will go on sale only post 2020; is likely to get Maruti Suzuki’s new 1.5-litre diesel engine.

N Raja - Deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor:

Quote:
The Vitara Brezza is part of our future plans. The (Toyota-badged) Baleno is for this year; the Vitara Brezza is for next year or the year after. It’s yet to be decided

Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21-1.jpg

Source:

Last edited by volkman10 : 4th February 2019 at 14:51.
volkman10 is offline   (12) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 16:39   #2
BHPian
 
roby_dk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 753
Thanked: 2,155 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

What is this new Toyota and Maruti collaboration. Changing the badge means a lot here, the ToyMaruti's should be as solid, reliable and safer like Toyota. I am not sure how the tin cans will abide by the strict safety and quality norms of Toyota.
roby_dk is offline   (8) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 17:10   #3
BHPian
 
the_skyliner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Pune
Posts: 868
Thanked: 1,517 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

This does sound childish from both, Toyota and Maruti. These are two very different brands and the target audience is very different in our country for them.

Maruti and Toyota both command excellent market share in their own way then what is the need for such a stunt?

Useless strategy in my opinion.
the_skyliner is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 17:48   #4
BANNED
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Kochi
Posts: 924
Thanked: 7,276 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

How long can Suzuki survive with Maruti as the bread winner? It won't be long before Suzuki finds it difficult to fund R&D for electric and future mobility technologies. I won't be surprised to see Suzuki becoming a Toyota subsidiary in the long run. Win win for both companies in my opinion. Toyota gets a big market on a platter, Suzuki gets the financial might to fight another day!
The Rationalist is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 18:02   #5
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: --
Posts: 23,271
Thanked: 67,350 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Quote:
Originally Posted by roby_dk View Post
What is this new Toyota and Maruti collaboration. --
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_skyliner View Post
This does sound childish from both, Toyota and Maruti. --
This is an alliance in a Global Level.

Quote:
The Suzuki-Toyota partnership is not only for India; it will be leveraged at the global scale.
Link
volkman10 is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 19:23   #6
BHPian
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Mumbai / Gold Coast
Posts: 247
Thanked: 238 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Quote:
Originally Posted by roby_dk View Post
What is this new Toyota and Maruti collaboration. Changing the badge means a lot here, the ToyMaruti's should be as solid, reliable and safer like Toyota. I am not sure how the tin cans will abide by the strict safety and quality norms of Toyota.
The Brezza did reasonably well - quite well actually - in the Global NCAP tests, guess, as it is derived from the Vitara's platform. So that should be fine. It's the hatches that might struggle to conform to Toyota's usual standards. Let's see, I'm quite curious to see what happens, how much - if at all - will Toyota compromise with products that bear their logo..

Last edited by da_lowrider : 4th February 2019 at 19:23. Reason: Added punctuation
da_lowrider is offline   (6) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 19:49   #7
BHPian
 
cs_rajesh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 343
Thanked: 324 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Quote:
Toyota to focus on making its cars cheaper in India: Masakazu Yoshimura
This is the title of the Economic Times News article on Toyota - Maruti collaboration and this statement can now be interpreted in any manner. Maruti Suzuki is seen as a manufacturer who builds cars that matches the needs of typical Indian customer, i.e. providing highest fuel efficiency amongst cars of same segment, adding features that are popular amongst folks in general like entertainment system, etc but certainly not known for quality and durability. Toyota sold and even today sells cars that are known for quality (of its cars and spares), affordable yet quality service, its durable component spares. Now bringing in Maruti cars into Toyota stable just would simply destroy or erode this image of Toyota, IMHO. It would make sense if Toyota sells Maruti cars as Maruti (or Maruti-Toyota) badged and not purely a Toyota car.

Last edited by cs_rajesh : 4th February 2019 at 20:00.
cs_rajesh is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 20:17   #8
BHPian
 
Superleggera's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Kannur/Boston
Posts: 531
Thanked: 816 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Somewhere from 90's to mid 2000's Toyota Corolla was sold as Geo / Chevrolet Prizm in the USA, thru a joint venture between Toyota and GM. The idea was to make a Toyota Corolla available at a Chevy Price point. Initially the car was developed under Geo Marquee (A Chevy Subsidiary), later it was sold as Chevrolet Prizm as Geo got dissolved in Chevy and the car suffered heavy sales loss. It was never a success under both Brands.

What we have seen in the past is that cross branding cars rarely succeeds. Same is the story with Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.

In both the examples above Toyota was selling like hot cakes but the other brands were not. Lets wait and watch what will happen in India in this unusual equation.
Superleggera is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 21:15   #9
BHPian
 
Malyaj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 235
Thanked: 2,875 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Someone please enlighten noobs like me on how exactly these kind of partnerships work. I am assuming that the Brezza for instance will still be manufactured at the same Suzuki plant and will only carry the Toyota badge and some minor changes. How much quality control does Toyota get to exercise on the production of Brezza?

If the product is more or less the same, and MSIL's own A.S.S being extremely good, what would be the reasons to buy a Brezza from Toyota? Brezza is a well known product and everyone knows its a MSIL product. So copy pasting the Toyota badge is not exactly going to enhance its status. I can understand that Toyota get's a share of the Brezza pie, MSIL loses some of that pie and gets some R&D favours in return, but nothing changes from a customer's perspective, does it?
Malyaj is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 4th February 2019, 21:37   #10
BHPian
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: KA-09
Posts: 756
Thanked: 1,368 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Quote:
Originally Posted by roby_dk View Post
the ToyMaruti's should be as solid, reliable and safer like Toyota. I am not sure how the tin cans will abide by the strict safety and quality norms of Toyota.

At least in this case, Toyota will get a reasonably safe shell (Brezza is 4* rated) unlike Baleno. May be it can appeal to a different set of audience if Toyota gives it the full set of safety features. And hey how about the 1.5 litre petrol + cvt from Yaris?
octane_100 is offline  
Old 4th February 2019, 22:00   #11
BHPian
 
saisree's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: TN-11, AP-03
Posts: 940
Thanked: 2,427 Times

Hope this doesn't become similar to Nissan-Renault JV rebadging each other's cars and whoever introduce the car second will have a higher pricing. Essentially the same car with added styling here and there and still feel the same.

I don't expect Toyota to re-engineer the car to its standards as it may require them to shift from the perceive Strong(?) Heartect platform.

Toyota we don't want to see an Auto rickshaw with stolen BMW logo.
saisree is offline   (5) Thanks
Old 5th February 2019, 09:38   #12
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 2,983
Thanked: 6,852 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Strange for Toyota to sell an older model (introduced in 2016) in 2020. Or is this a dry run of the partnership?

I don't understand the negative emotion in this thread. Badge engineering is a common phenomenon. Going by Toyota's reputation, they will definitely build the car to the higher standards- you'll see well screwed interiors and lower tolerances in the doors/sheet metal. We might see a 1-3% increase in weight and lower FE figures.

The partnership will benefit Suzuki more as EVs and hybrid powertrain technology for small cars will be made by a collaborative R&D which will have Toyota's expertise.
landcruiser123 is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 5th February 2019, 12:46   #13
BHPian
 
saisree's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: TN-11, AP-03
Posts: 940
Thanked: 2,427 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Mod Note: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers. Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use a spell-checker.

Last edited by GTO : 5th February 2019 at 17:39.
saisree is offline   Received Infraction
Old 5th February 2019, 13:30   #14
Team-BHP Support
 
Chetan_Rao's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 5,833
Thanked: 23,960 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

Given Toyota will definitely demand a premium for the badge, one can only hope the customer gets better quality in return.
Chetan_Rao is offline  
Old 5th February 2019, 14:18   #15
BHPian
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 940
Thanked: 1,446 Times
re: Toyota to launch Urban Cruiser (rebadged Vitara Brezza) in FY 2020-21

This is definitely an odd combination but for all we know, both badges will fly off the shelves. But I have my doubts with the Toyota side considering that they are still a one-hit wonder in India (well, to quell debates, let's say two-hit wonder).

I also wonder if one of these badges will focus more on the electric version i.e. Maruti may keep selling it's "hybrid" gasoline version and Toyota touts a full electric version of the same and thereby keeping the game within a two-person playing field. There's nothing indicating towards it but I am speculating.
Mad Max is offline  
Closed Thread

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks