Maruti-Toyota Small Car Under Development, Could It Be An EV?

The Maruti-Toyota alliance is currently developing a small car and it is likely that it could be an electric vehicle.

Ever since the two firms joined hands, they had been concentrating on capturing the ground lost by Maruti to its South Korean rivals in the utility vehicle space.

Thus, both firms have planned to jointly develop and produce an MPV, a compact SUV and a midsize SUV by 2022.

However, a new project seems to have cropped up in the form of a small car. Codenamed 560B, the vehicle under development is expected to get launched sometime in 2022.

While no more details about the Maruti-Toyota small car is available, it is speculated that the product could be the much anticipated affordable EV that both firms will put on sale in the market.

Before that car goes on sale though, the first car codeveloped by both firms, which is a new MPV that will sit above the Ertiga and below the Innova, will probably be launched.

Then comes the next-generation Vitara Brezza which will be rebadged and sold as a Toyota and the Hyundai Creta rival that both firms are working on. It will be manufactured at Toyota’s Bidadi facility in Karnataka starting 2022.

Maruti Suzuki, on the other hand, is also working on its own and separate set of cars that will not be badge-engineered into Toyota products.

These include the next-generation Celerio which is due for launch shortly, the YTB crossover based on the Baleno (expected by 2022) and the 5-door Jimny set for 2023 launch.