Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are planning to launch electric vehicles in the Indian market. In the past, the brand was spotted testing a Maruti Suzuki WagonR based electric vehicle. Toyota also registered the name Hyryder at the Indian intellectual property office and a few test mules were also spotted sans camouflage, leading us to believe that the EV is production-ready.
However, Maruti Suzuki shelved the plans to introduce the WagonR based electric vehicle citing the viability of the product. According to the brand, the small-size EV would be too expensive as compared to the petrol-powered counterpart and wouldn’t be able to make the return on investments for the customer. In the past, we also reported that an electric car from the brand is not likely to make its debut in India before 2025.
Maruti-Toyota Electric SUV Could be Wider and Longer than Creta
But it is not the WagonR based EV that the brand might make its EV debut with. Instead, Maruti Suzuki and Toyota could be planning to launch a new electric SUV – Codenamed YY8. The Maruti-Toyota electric SUV is likely to come with a longer wheelbase as compared to the Creta and is also likely to be wider than the Korean SUV. Reports suggest that the e-SUV will come with an overall length of around 4.2-metres. Also, the brand’s are not going to build one car and do a brand engineering exercise. Both EVs will come with a different top hat. However, we are not yet sure if the electric car will be targeted at customers limited to the Indian market or also for customers abroad.
Maruti-Toyota Electric SUV – Powertrain
Speculation is that the electric SUV will come with a 138 Hp motor paired to a 48 kWh battery pack. The battery pack could be capable of 400 km on a single charge, under standard test conditions. The brand is also likely to offer two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive variants. The four-wheel-drive model is likely to come with twin electric motors producing 170 Hp of power and comes with a larger 59 kWh battery pack. The car is likely to get a range of around 500 km on a single charge.
Price and Competition
The Maruti-Toyota electric SUV is likely to come in a range of INR 12 to 15 lakhs. With the price the e-SUV will compete with the Tata Nexon EV and with its size, the EV will compete with the MG ZS EV.
Also Read: MY22 Maruti Suzuki ‘New Age Baleno’ will arrive in 7 variants and colours
