By Toyota and Suzuki’s strategic partnership allows both companies to share products which will help them to improve overall sales. Toyota is already selling three cross-badged models in the Indian market namely – Glanza, Rumion and Urban Cruiser Hyryder. Now the Japanese manufacturer is keen to expand the portfolio further with the introduction of more models from the Maruti Suzuki lineup. According to reports, Toyota had requested Suzuki to cross-badge and sell the Swift and Jimny.
But Suzuki has politely denied the request from Toyota as these two products are the core of the company and cross-badging these products will certainly lose the value. The iconic product from Toyota’s portfolio is the Land Cruiser and cross-badging while making a Suzuki product out of it is not great. But for Maruti sharing Jimny is a good option as the company is struggling to sell the lifestyle vehicle and one of the reasons for the lack of success is the pricing as Jimny is priced at a premium as customers were expecting the price to be lower.
Maruti Suzuki sold 15,476 units from June to November 2023 which is low compared to other products from the company as they sold just 1020 units last month. if Toyota gets the cross-badge model then it will certainly boost the overall sales of Jimny in the Indian market. On the other hand, Swift is one of the best-selling models in India and cross-badging is likely to improve sales of Toyota in India. The cross-badge products from Suzuki contribute to 25 per cent of Toyota’s monthly sales.
