Maruti Suzuki may entirely shift Vitara Brezza production to Toyota's plant

- The move is aimed at freeing-up production lines at Maruti Suzuki’s Haryana plants.

- Toyota will market rebadged Vitara Brezza from 2022.

Maruti Suzuki is considering completely shifting the production of Vitara Brezza compact SUV to Toyota’s plant in Karnataka. If the plan works out, it will be the first instance of Maruti Suzuki outsourcing the production of its car to a different OEM, outside the Suzuki Group.

The source report claims that Maruti Suzuki is working on the details of the plan and will choose an option, which offers the maximum operational advantage to the company. Last month, Maruti Suzuki’s board had cleared a proposal to partly source the Vitara Brezza from Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) to further its non-equity partnership between Suzuki and Toyota, which was signed in February 2017.

However, it has emerged that Maruti Suzuki might entirely move the compact SUV’s production to the Toyota facility to free-up its production lines at its Haryana factories. The move could also help Toyota Kirloskar Motors make full use of its production capacities at its two Karnataka plants. It will also help Maruti Suzuki ramp up production of its other cars at the Manesar plant, and decrease the waiting periods of its vehicles, especially the new-gen Ertiga.

The partnership between Suzuki and Toyota will allow the latter to get access to the Vitara Brezza and market it under the Toyota brand from 2022 onwards. It will be the second-generation model of the compact SUV. In addition to that, Toyota will also sell the rebadged Baleno in India from June 2019, which will be marketed as the Toyota Glanza.

Toyota will also get access to the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Ertiga in the future. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki will sell the rebadged Toyota Corolla and will get access to Toyota’s hybrid and electric systems.

Source