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Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Wednesday forayed into the on-demand compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with the launch of the Urban Cruiser. This is the second product to be launched under the partnership between Japanese car makers Suzuki and Toyota, and is based on Maruti Suzuki’s Vitara Brezza compact SUV.
It has been priced in the Rs 8.40 lakh to Rs 11.30 lakh range, ex-showroom and it will be available in dealerships from mid-October.
Toyota and Suzuki had begun considering a business partnership back in 2016. Under an agreement signed in 2018 towards supply of vehicles between the two companies in the Indian market, Suzuki would supply models like Baleno premium hatchback and Vitara Brezza to Toyota and Toyota would supply the Corolla sedan to Suzuki.
In 2019, the two companies entered into a capital alliance to establish and promote a long-term partnership between the two companies for promoting collaboration across various fields, including autonomous driving.
While the Glanza was essentially a rebadged version of the Baleno, the Urban Cruiser has some changes in design, especially in the front, to make it look like a younger sibling of Toyota’s Fortuner SUV. But the rear and the sides look similar between the Urban Cruiser and Vitara Brezza.
Vitara Brezza has been among the top-selling compact SUVs in the country. So, it is going to be a challenge for the Urban Cruiser to attract customers in a segment where the Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet are also hot sellers.
How will Toyota ensure that the Urban Cruiser stands out from Vitara Brezza and gains customer traction?
“You can identify from the design that the front design is the most changed. The front grille and front bumper is obviously different. Actually, we inherit our big brother Toyota Fortuner design, which is Toyota SUV global identity. At the same time, we also have unique exterior and interior colours. Not only that, we would like to introduce this vehicle and invite our new customers to Toyota to experience our after sales service and also the ownership of a Toyota vehicle,” said Tadashi Asazuma, vice-president, marketing at Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
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The Urban Cruiser gets dark brown interiors, a touch screen entertainment system with Android auto and Apple carplay
Toyota Urban Cruiser will be powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine and come in three variants—mid, high and premium. All the variants will also get an automatic transmission option, apart from the manual gearbox. All the automatic variants will also get a lithium-ion battery with integrated starter generator, comprising torque assist function, idle start-stop function and brake energy regeneration, which should offer enhanced fuel efficiency.
There is no diesel-powered variant on offer on the Urban Cruiser, considering that the Vitara Brezza only comes in a petrol guise. The overall performance of the Urban Cruiser should also then be similar to the Vitara Brezza.
The Urban Cruiser also gets 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, LED projector headlamps, LED daytime running ligts-cum-indicators, LED fog lamps, LED rear split type tail lamps and an LED high-mounted stop lamp. Dual front airbags, anti-lock braking system with electronic brakeforce distribution and an advanced body structure for safety will also be included.
On the interior, the Urban Cruiser gets dark brown interiors, a touch screen entertainment system with Android auto and Apple carplay, apart from smartphone-based navigation and reverse parking camera. Cruise control, rain-sensing wipers and electrochromic rear view mirror will also be available.
Its pricing is similar to the likes of the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Venue, the Brezza and the Tata Nexon. However, all of these rivals also offer an entry-level variant, which the Urban Cruiser doesn’t. Mahindra also offers the XUV300 in this segment, but it skips the fully automatic transmission in favour of an AMT (automatic manual) gearbox. The Ford Ecosport is slightly more expensive than the Urban Cruiser, across variants.
The Urban Cruiser then may be similar to the Vitara Brezza. But, Toyota is banking on the overall sales and service experience that it offers to drive in more customers.
“The only KPI that we try to monitor is taking care of our customers, giving them a satisfactory experience and through that organic way of growing the market. This vehicle provides you a three-year 100,000 km warranty. This also comes with a bundled together roadside assistance, which is complimentary to all our customers during the warranty period. In addition, customers have a choice to go for extended warranty,” said Naveen Soni, senior vice-president, sales and service at Toyota Kirloskar.
Automobile companies were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but things are slowly getting back to pre-COVID levels. Companies are especially seeing demand pickup for entry level cars, as more people will prefer personal vehicles over public transport as coronavirus cases continue to rise and the need for social distancing remains important.
“The customer's confidence is coming back. The pandemic is aggravating by the day. But what we are seeing in the marketplace, every month has been a better month than the previous month. There is a fear or a threat that he (the customer) should not get into mass mobility. Therefore, he prefers personal mobility. At the same time, his economic needs prohibit him from going into the higher end of the market. So, he prefers a car at the lower end of the market. So, the low-end of the market seems to have grown beyond the pre-pandemic situation or last year also,” said Soni.
With the Urban Cruiser, Toyota now offers two products at the low end of the market, added Soni. At the higher end, he also expects a greater pull from the market in the festive season.
