Toyota's rebadged version of Vitara Brezza to launch in festive season: Sources

Back in June 2019, Toyota started retailing the Maruti Baleno as the Glanza premium hatchback, and it managed to receive a decent feedback. Now, after a year, the Suzuki-Toyota alliance is gearing up introduce another product in the market which will be the much-awaited rebadged Vitara Brezza.

The rebadged Brezza was earlier planned to go on sale in August but sources have confirmed to HT Auto that the launch has been pushed back to the later part of 2020, around festive season.

The delay could largely be due to Covid-19 related challenges that has severely impacted market dynamics.

Sources also revealed that Toyota will rename the Brezza as 'Raize'.

For the record, Toyota already sells a compact SUV by this name as an international model. This product retails in the Japanese market as a rebadged sibling to the Daihatsu Rocky. The latter was revealed at the 2019 Tokyo Motor show.

In India, the rebadged version of the Toyota's compact SUV is expected to distinguish itself from the Maruti Brezza with a slew of exterior styling updates. The bumpers, grille and light could undergo updates but the sheet-metal changes aren't expected. In terms of cabin tweaks, it might get a lighter interior colour scheme as well as some other minor changes to liven up the cabin space.

With the previous update, the Vitara Brezza transitioned into a petrol-only model. Toyota's version of Brezza will also be most likely available with the same 1.5-litre petrol engine option which delivers 105 PS of maximum power. The transmission options may include a 5-speed manual and a 4-speed automatic gearbox.

The car is expected to be a more appealing proposition against the Maruti's Brezza and may skip the base variants of its donor model, as previously seen in the case of Toyota Glanza. What's certain is that its price range will start above the Maruti Vitara Brezza's. The company is also likely to offer a longer, 3-year/1,00,000 km standard warranty on it.