Badge Engineering Overload: Toyota Goes Wild With Suzuki Rebranding In South Africa

Toyota‘s collaboration with Suzuki has resulted in rebadged models from both sides in different markets. One of the most extreme cases is South Africa, where the Toyota lineup currently includes five Suzuki-sourced models covering a wide range of segments. Among those, the Toyota Vitz (Suzuki Celerio) city car, the Toyota Starlet (Suzuki Baleno) supermini, the Toyota Rumion (Suzuki Ertiga) three-row minivan, and the Toyota Urban Cruiser (Suzuki Brezza) and Urban Cruiser Hyryder (Suzuki Grand Vitara) SUVs.

The most recent addition to Toyota’s South African range is the Vitz which looks virtually identical to the new Maruti Suzuki Celerio minus the badges. The 3,695 mm (145 inches) long city car with the five-door bodystyle will replace the Daihatsu-sourced Toyota Agya from the second quarter of 2023, focused on affordability. Just like its Suzuki-branded twin brother from India, the Toyota Vitz is expected to be powered by a naturally-aspirated 1.0-liter engine producing 49 kW (65 hp).

Read: Suzuki Confirms New Electric Jimny For Europe And More EVs For Other Markets

Badge Engineering Overload: Toyota Goes Wild With Suzuki Rebranding In South Africa

The Toyota Starlet, which got a new generation just a few months ago, is a rebadged Suzuki Baleno. Here, Toyota did some design work as the model features a unique front bumper with larger intakes and a revised grille distinguishing it from the Suzuki. The 3,990 mm (157 inches) long supermini comes fitted with Suzuki’s naturally-aspirated 1.5-liter petrol engine which is also used in the Suzuki Baleno for export markets outside India.

The Toyota Rumion three-row MPV, which debuted in South Africa in 2021, is a rebadged version of the Suzuki Ertiga, originally introduced in 2018 in Indonesia. Aside from the badges, the only differences between the two models are the grille and the 15-inch wheels. Likewise, the 4,395 mm (173 inches) long minivan comes fitted with the same 1.5-liter petrol engine producing 103 hp (77 kW / 105 PS).

Moving on to the SUVs, the South African Toyota Urban Cruiser is nothing more than a Suzuki Vitara Brezza with a redesigned grille and front bumper. Notably, the model is based on the facelifted previous-gen Vitara Brezza rather than the all-new Brezza which debuted in India last year. This means it comes fitted with the non-electrified 1.5-liter unit.

Toyota South Africa also announced it will soon start sales of the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, which was introduced in India in 2022 as a sister model to the Suzuki Grand Vitara. Unlike the aforementioned models, this is not a simple case of rebadging, as the Hyryder features a more extensively redesigned face and rear end compared to the Grand Vitara. The 4,365 mm (171.9 inches) long SUV will arrive in the local market in the second quarter of 2023. Powertrain options have not been announced yet, but in India, the Hyryder is available in both mild hybrid and full hybrid flavors.

Browsing through Toyota’s official website for the entire African region, we spotted another familiar design. The Toyota Belta is a 4,490 mm (176.8 inches) four-door sedan based on the Suzuki Ciaz which was originally introduced back in 2015 in Thailand. This model is available in select African markets including Egypt (not in South Africa) as a more affordable sedan sitting below the Toyota Corolla.

If you are dizzy after all this rebadging, we must note that Suzuki is also guilty of the same offense. In Europe, the company is offering the Suzuki Across based on the Toyota RAV4 PHEV, and the Suzuki Swace based on the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports. Judging from the recent reports about the future of the Toyota – Suzuki collaborations, we expect more sibling models to arrive in the near future, hopefully featuring more unique styling cues to cover their shared underpinnings.