Toyota ‘borrowed’ a used car from Suzuki in Vietnam to make a new car the size of Wigo

The partnership between Suzuki and Toyota brings many benefits to both sides. As for Suzuki, they have access to the electrochemical technology of their compatriots – a luxury factor for this brand because of the expensive development costs, along with the chassis of some hot names such as the RAV4 that is now available. copy Suzuki Across.

In the opposite direction, Toyota has access to a series of Suzuki cars in developing markets to expand its own lineup.

For example, in South Africa, Toyota currently has 5 models of vehicles originating from Suzuki, which are Toyota Starlet (Baleno chassis), Rumion (Ertiga chassis), Urban Cruiser (Brezza chassis), Urban Cruiser Hyryder (Grand Vitara chassis) and the latest is Vitz (Suzuki Celerio chassis) revealed in January.

Toyota’s latest addition towards the urban car segment has an almost identical design to the original Suzuki Celerio with the biggest difference coming from… the logo. In South Africa, this name line directly replaces Toyota Agya (Wigo in Vietnam).

Details of Toyota Vitz have not been clarified, but the car is expected to use a 1.0L naturally aspirated engine with a capacity of 67 horsepower and 89 Nm of torque like the original. The chassis is a Heartec type shared with the Swift that brings a frame (if identical to the Celerio) of 3,695 mm long, 1,655 mm wide and 1,555 mm high, with a wheelbase of 2,435 mm.

The Toyota Vitz name was previously used for the version of the Toyota Yaris sold in Japan since 1998. The name was later discontinued in mid-2020 because of poor sales and had nothing to do with the newly launched model of the same name. published in South Africa.

In Vietnam, Suzuki Celerio was declared dead about 3 years ago. Previously, this model had the lowest sales in the segment.