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Toyota badged Maruti Suzuki Baleno to be called ‘Glanza’

Written by Nizam Shaikh

Car manufacturing giants Toyota and Suzuki joined hands last year in a venture where Toyota’s popular Corolla sedan cars will be sold through Suzuki’s dealerships and Toyota will source the small car expert Maruti Suzuki’s hatchback Baleno and compact-SUV Vitara Brezza. Both companies refrain from calling it cross badging since they will not look identical and will be reworked cosmetically. But in terms of functionality, they will remain the same.

Toyota will be selling an all-new model of a premium hatchback which will be based on the Maruti Suzuki Baleno. This is rumoured to be christened as the ‘Toyota Glanza’. The new model is codenamed A11 and will be built at Toyota’s Bidadi plant in Karnataka. The new hatchback will have some cosmetic changes to the grille, bumpers, and headlights. Other hardware is expected to remain the same.

Toyota is expected to sell only petrol powered engines of the A11 / Glanza. And in the engine department, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno comes with a 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.0-litre Boosterjet turbocharged petrol engines and the new 1.2-litre Dualjet petrol with Smart Hybrid system. We don’t know yet which of these will powertrains the new A11 / Glanza will be offered with. The new 1.2-litre Dualjet SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle System) gets a lithium-ion battery which helps in torque assistance during starts from a standstill, thus reducing fuel consumption and emissions. It also uses the battery to use the automatic start-stop function during idles. The new 1.2L Dualjet engine emits 25% less NOx and is BSVI emission compliant.

Toyota will also source the small SUV Vitara Brezza, Ciaz and the Ertiga for sale in India as well as African markets. It is also expected that the two carmakers may jointly develop a new C-Segment MPV and hybrid electric vehicles with heavily localised batteries and engines. The two brands will also be joining hands in Europe where Toyota will use Suzuki engines and for their small cars and Suzuki through their dealerships will sell the Corolla Estate and Rav4 EV. Toyota will also be supplying electric hybrid engines to Suzuki. Suzuki have already invested in a battery manufacturing plant in Gujrat, along with Denso and Toshiba.

The A11 / Glanza will sit above the Toyota Liva.

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