Suzuki is a small car specialist and the firm is preparing to produce its first Indian-built Electric Vehicle (EV) by 2025 following significant investment in its production facilities in Gujarat, India, earlier this year.

Affordable EVs is what the South African motoring landscape desperately needs. If you consider that most Suzuki products that we have come to adore are manufactured in India, then it’s not too difficult to imagine that an affordable Indian-built Suzuki EV will eventually see the light of day in Mzansi.

Earlier this year, Suzuki announced a significant $1.37-billion investment to upgrade its production facilities in Gujarat, India, in preparation for EV production. Maruti Suzuki dominates the Indian market with its ICE vehicles and even here in the “deep South”, Suzuki now finds itself in the Top 3 best-selling car brands in South Africa.

However, when it comes to EVs, Tata Motors holds a significant share of the Indian EV market and Suzuki is now preparing to enter the EV market with its very own Battery-Electric Vehicle (BEV) in 2025 to meet the growing demand for EVs in India. In fact, the Indian EV market is expected to boom to over $150-billion by 2030 and Suzuki wants to secure its share of the pie!

Suzuki and Toyota Join Forces

More affordable EVs will hopefully be the result of the Toyota-Suzuki collaboration.

Suzuki, however, will lean on expertise from Toyota to achieve its goals. While not much is yet known about this new Suzuki EV, it’s expected to take the form of an SUV and will be built on a new electric platform that’s likely to spawn a range of new electrified Suzuki models, some of which might also wear Toyota badges. Toyota last year announced its commitment to producing no less than 30 new EVs by 2030.

The collaboration between Toyota and Suzuki has been a topic of hot debate in South Africa with the introduction of the Suzuki Baleno and Toyota Starlet duo as well as the Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Toyota Urban Cruiser.

More so, Suzuki recently confirmed that the new hybridised Grand Vitara will be offered in South Africa early in 2023. The new Grand Vitara is a Suzuki-badged version of the newly revealed Toyota HyRyder and employs both full hybrid and mild-hybrid technology.

The Suzuki-Toyota collaboration will hopefully stimulate the widespread introduction of more affordable EVs in the not-too-distant future, not only in India but hopefully in other regions too, including South Africa.

We will keep you updated as this story develops further…

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