Meet the freshly revealed Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor, a coupé-style crossover based on the Suzuki Fronx and already confirmed for launch in South Africa (though it will wear a different name here)…
Say hello to the new Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor. Revealed in India, this new coupé-style crossover is the latest product of the Japanese giant’s wide-reaching alliance with Suzuki. And, yes, it’s based on the Suzuki Fronx.
UPDATE: Toyota South Africa Motors has announced that the new Urban Cruiser Taisor will be introduced in the local market “under a model name yet to be announced”, saying “further details about the SA version of Urban Cruiser Taisor will be made closer to launch timing”.
Toyota SA Motors earlier confirmed to Cars.co.za that the new Urban Cruiser Taisor is indeed coming to local roads, though the company would not yet be drawn on launch timing. Since orders have seemingly already opened in India, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the newcomer in Mzansi before the end of 2024.
So, what sets the Urban Cruiser Taisor apart from the Fronx? Well, though all body panels are seemingly carried over, the Toyota-badged version unveiled in India features a revised grille finish, restyled bumpers (fore and aft), fresh alloy-wheel designs and a model-specific front lighting signatures (front and back). At first glance, very little has changed in the cabin at all.
Like the Fronx, the newcomer measures 3 995 mm from nose to tail, with a wheelbase of 2 520 mm and a height of 1 550 mm. Though local pricing has yet to be released, we expect the Urban Cruiser Taisor to slot in at the foot of Toyota SA Motors’ crossover line-up, below the likewise Indian-made Urban Cruiser and the locally built Corolla Cross. That will, of course, make it Toyota’s most affordable crossover.
This model may well turn out to be another significant volume driver for Toyota SA Motors, particularly since it looks set to be positioned to pick up where the old Urban Cruiser left off. As a reminder, the new Urban Cruiser – which wears the Hyryder suffix in India and launched locally in April 2023 – is larger and more expensive than the original, and thus hasn’t enjoyed quite the same sales success.
As such, we see the Urban Cruiser Taisor slotting in below the Urban Cruiser, which now kicks off at R342 500. For more potential pricing context, we could look to the 4-strong Fronx line-up, which currently has bookends of R288 900 and R344 900.
Like the SA-spec Fronx (which made landfall back in August 2023), we suspect the new Taisor will be offered locally with Suzuki’s ubiquitous K15B naturally aspirated 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine, sending 77 kW and 138 Nm to the front axle via either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 4-speed automatic transmission. That’s despite the fact the Indian-spec model will be available with an atmospheric 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder petrol motor or a turbocharged 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder engine.
Despite reported supply constraints, the Fronx has already proved successful for Suzuki Auto SA, with 2 048 units registered in Mzansi over the final 5 months of 2023 during which it was on sale. A further 738 units have been sold in the opening 2 months of 2024. This bodes well for the new Taisor considering Toyota-badged products of the alliance have made a habit of outselling their Suzuki donors.
We’ll update this story with more SA-specific information once it becomes available…
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