Toyota To Partner With Suzuki On New Electric SUV Model

by Chris Teague

Published: October 31st, 2024

toyota to partner with suzuki on new electric suv model

Toyota owns a small chunk of Suzuki, and it will lean on its smaller counterpart for help in the extremely challenging EV market. Toyota said that Suzuki would supply its first electric SUV, which is expected to arrive in several global markets next year.

Suzuki will build the Toyota-badged EV at its Indian facility in Gujarat starting in the Spring. Toyota noted that the new EV would be “a nimble SUV with the sharp driving characteristics of a BEV.” It will ride on a platform jointly developed between Daihatsu, Suzuki, and Toyota.

The SUV will be launched as part of Toyota’s effort to launch ten new EVs by 2026 and will be offered “worldwide.” Toyota has also extended its partnership with Subaru—in which it owns a significant stake—to build a new SUV in 2026.

Suzuki’s CEO, Atsushi Osaki, said the partnership would help it continue to grow in the EV space, noting that “there is a huge risk for us to go it alone in this field.” The move will help Toyota deliver more new electric models, as it was extremely cautious early on and hasn’t offered the depth of EV models many competitors have, especially Chinese companies.

Toyota’s deep pockets and global reach put it in a better competitive position than many other automakers, but the Chinese auto industry is a force to be reckoned with. Government subsidies and readily available raw materials in the country have given its automakers a solid platform to compete against Western companies, which have so far seemed to be caught flat-footed.

[Images: Toyota]

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Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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2 of 5 comments

Slavuta on Oct 31, 2024
"Suzuki will build the Toyota-badged EV at its Indian facility in Gujarat"..... what comes into head first, when Apple moved some of production from China to India, they started to have up to 50% quality drop in some components.

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Lorenzo on Oct 31, 2024
Good move by Toyota - spread the debt, and damage a competitor at the same time.

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