The electric vehicle market in India is going to have some new competition as Maruti Suzuki-Toyota is working on an electric SUV which is expected to offer a range of up to 500 km.
Both the companies are working together to bring out this electric vehicle for the International as well as the domestic market. While the automakers are working on this project together, their variants will have a distinct design and styling.
According to an AutoCar India report, the Maruti Suzuki variant is codenamed YY8 and is said to sport a futuristic design and might look totally different from the auto maker’s existing ICE-powered cars.
For those who are unaware, both Toyota and Suzuki had signed up an MoU (memorandum of understanding) in 2017 aimed at co-developing electric vehicles for the Indian market. According to this agreement, Suzuki will produce EVs for the Indian market and will supply some to Toyota. While Toyota is expected to provide technical support for the electric models.
The new vehicle will be designed from scratch unlike the previous tried and tested method of fitting the ICE vehicle with an electric powertrain. According to reports, YY8 will be a 4.2-meter-long vehicle. Reports also mention that the car might have a 2,700mm wheelbase. The benefit of such a long wheelbase is that the company will be able to fix a bigger battery which further translates into a higher range.
The SUV will feature both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive variants. The two-wheel-drive variant is expected to be equipped with a 138hp motor and a 48kWh battery offering up to a 400 km of range in ideal conditions and the variant with four-wheel drive might come equipped with two-electric motors providing 170hp, a bigger 58 kWh battery, and up to 500 km range.
It is expected that the key features of Toyota’s e-SUV will remain the same but there will be a difference when it comes to the design of the vehicle. Moreover, the battery of this car is expected to be procured locally. According to reports, TDSG, a joint venture between Maruti-Suzuki, Denso, and Toshiba, is expected to manufacture these batteries in its Gujarat-based facility.
At the moment, it is not clear if Maruti Suzuki will introduce both variants in India, however, it is being reported that Toyota might launch both the two-wheel drive and the four-wheel-drive variants in India.
As it’s going to be Maruti’s first electric car in the Indian market the pricing will play a major role and the company will want to price it aggressively considering the Indian market scenario. According to reports, Maruti is expected to price this car in the range of Rs. 13-14 lakhs taking on the most popular Indian EV Tata Nexon.
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