Toyota-based Suzuki hybrid SUVs and small cars for Australia: Where are they and why aren't they here yet?

Australia seems to be out of step with some other markets for Suzuki when it comes to several of the brand’s more intriguing models, with the no-show of two particular hybrid vehicles especially confusing – the Swace and Across.

It isn’t just fans of the Japanese brand experiencing an acute case of FOMO either, with dealers denied access to vehicle variations of what currently amounts to Australia’s favourite passenger car and traditional best-selling small car in the Toyota RAV4-based Across and Corolla-derived Swace respectively.

Announced in 2020 for Europe to help Suzuki meet the European Union’s increasingly stringent range-wide carbon dioxide emissions legislations without punitive action, these hybrid models would seemingly find ready buyers in Australia, especially when their Toyota-badged cousins are attracting waiting lists in excess of 12 months for some grades.

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However, when asked why Suzuki Australia does not jump on the Swace and Across bandwagons as a result, general manager Michael Pachota takes a far more pragmatic view of the situation.  

“We don’t have a need for them,” he told CarsGuide at the MY23 S-Cross launch near Melbourne earlier this month.

“Those cars were part of the first product introductions across the two platforms from Suzuki and Toyota, and obviously they had to be a fast response to the quick change in environment in European markets in regard to CO2 requirements and the penalties that come with that,” he said.

“So, as part of that partnership, (Suzuki in Europe and the United Kingdom) released two hybrid products (Toyota EU) had in market in two different segments … to offset the balance for Suzuki to be able to keep distributing products in those markets.”

Mr Pachota added that, should Australian emissions requirements change dramatically in a similar vein to Europe – and they may eventually under the more-environmentally driven federal Labor Party now in power – Suzuki Australia may reconsider its position, thanks to global access to models such as the Swace and Across.

“Fortunately, we’re not under the same kind of pressure,” he said. “But if there needs to be a response like that from any other global distributorships, the response would be there, but we don’t have the need for these in Australia.” 

The Across is based on the Toyota RAV4.

It appears, then, that while Suzuki-badged Toyotas aren’t heading this way any time soon, they’re not completely out of the question.

Not that Suzuki would be in much of a position to ask Toyota to build extra RAV4s in particular for Australians, as ongoing semiconductor shortages and other production hold ups are really impacting supplies on a global scale. If Toyota Australia is struggling to secure vehicles in a timely manner, what hope would Suzuki have?

Economics plays another part in the Toyota-based Suzukis absenteeism from Australia.

Taking the Across as an example, it is for now a variation of the RAV4 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) model that Toyota Australia has currently rejected locally. Kicking off from £46,628 in the UK, it would have to start from over $A80,000 in this country, before options and on-road costs, making it nearly twice as expensive as Suzuki’s costliest vehicle, the latest S-Cross Turbo Prestige AllGrip from $44,490 before ORC.

Likewise, Toyota Australia has also said no to the (albeit very pretty) Corolla wagon that serves as the sole basis of its Suzuki doppelganger, the Swace Estate hybrid; unlike the Across, it does not have a brand-unique nose to distinguish it from the donor car, while costing from nearly $50,000 based on UK pricing would be another impediment.

The Swace is based on the Corolla wagon.

In a nutshell, near-Lexus price points for Suzuki-badged Toyotas would make no sense in Australia. The brand is keen to move on up from its old cheap and cheerful pricing reputation, but even with that in mind, hyper-expensive Corolla and RAV4 hybrids would be a stretch too far.

Suzuki has already confirmed that it will bring its own hybrid vehicles to Australia, probably as soon as from late next year or in 2024 with an addition of a Vitara Mild Hybrid grade, while by the end of 2025, its entire line-up is set to be electrified in some way, likely including the unfeasibly popular Jimny.

It’s likely they’ll cost a whole lot less than the Across and Swace ever would.

Further down the track, with Toyota and Suzuki increasingly sharing development and production of key models, beginning with the new Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder hybrids that were recently announced in India and to be built at a Toyota factory in India using a Suzuki platform as well as hybrid powertrains supplied by both brands, it’s inevitable that we’ll see Toyota-made Suzukis eventually. Just not yet.

Do you agree with Suzuki’s decision to forgo these Toyota-made hybrids for Australia? Let us know in the comments below.