Toyota not to manufacture Suzuki Brezza at India plants

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Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on December 3 informed that the Suzuki Brezza will not be manufactured by Toyota at its Bengaluru plant in 2022.  Another unidentified model will be produced in its place, the car market leader said.

This change brings curtains on the agreement that allowed Maruti to source the Brezza from Toyota. In March 2019, the board of Maruti Suzuki cleared proposals to partly source the Brezza compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) from Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) as a part of the broader non-equity based agreement signed between Suzuki and Toyota in February 2017. 

The change comes barely 20 months after Toyota and Suzuki agreed to share models as part of the broader international agreement between the two companies. Toyota sources the Brezza from Maruti Suzuki but not before it is rebadged, marketed and sold as Urban Cruiser from its own showrooms.

“Vide our letter dated March 27, 2019, we had informed you about the decision of the Board to manufacture Vitara Brezza at the existing plant of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) starting year 2022. The Board has, today, approved to change the model to be manufactured at TKM from Vitara Brezza to another model,” said MSIL in a statement sent to the BSE.

Brezza is the second model supplied by Suzuki to Toyota in India with the first being the Maruti Suzuki Baleno which is rebadged as Toyota Glanza. The Urban Cruiser was launched by Toyota in early October in India being priced higher than the Maruti Brezza.  

MSIL declined to comment when approached for further clarity on the matter including the reason behind the sudden change. The copy will be updated with TKM’s comments as soon as they are shared. 

Last year, Suzuki even dabbled with the idea of moving the entire production of the Brezza to Toyota plants. This would have allowed MSIL to free up capacity at its Haryana plant which also makes the Urban Cruiser. 

Following the launch of Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue, Maruti’s share in the compact SUV segment has recorded a slide. From being the largest SUV maker in India MSIL’s position in the compact SUV segment has come down to the third spot.