Toyota will most likely name their version of the Vitara Brezza as the ‘Urban Cruiser’ to hark at the Land Cruiser nameplate and the credibility and capability the nameplate brings with it.
It is already known that Toyota will soon come out with a badge-engineered version of Vitara Brezza as part of the product sharing joint venture between Maruti Suzuki and Toyota. Now, we have come to know that this sub-4m SUV from Toyota is likely going to be called the ‘Urban Cruiser’. Quite a nice name, we must say and quite fitting in Toyota’s lineup as well.
The inception of this name lies, we believe, lies in the Toyota Land Cruiser heritage. It is a very important product in Toyota’s global lineup and in fact, the Land Cruiser name is so well established that its even used as a prefix on the Land Cruiser Prado. The ‘Cruiser’ in the name Urban Cruiser is supposed to establish that this SUV comes from a long and distinguished line of Toyota off-roaders and that it belongs to the same family.
The name naturally instill a lot of pedigree and capability in the car that comes with this moniker. Although the Toyota Urban Cruiser will not directly draw anything from the Land Cruiser family, it will be underpinned by a platform that is itself very tough. Maruti Suzuki’s Vitara Brezza platform has been built and engineered to be sold in Europe and it also complies to crash test norms there. In fact, it has given a 4-star safety rating by Global NCAP and while that isn’t the last word in safety, its generally a good indication in itself.
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Like we said before, this upcoming SUV isn’t drawing anything from the Land Cruiser family, and certainly not any off-road ability as well. Although the compact SUV has a fair amount of ground clearance and can take on a bit of a rough terrain, it is certainly meant for the city and that is where the ‘Urban’ in the name comes in. The name actually works very well and seems synonymous with a Toyota SUV. We expect the Indian audience to have a positive reception to this new name.
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An interesting fact to note is that this isn’t the first time Toyota is using the ‘Urban Crossover’ name for an SUV or a crossover. It has been used before on a crossover that was sold in the Europe and Japan. Also, this time it will not just be a change of badge as e saw with the Glanza. Although there will be no sheet metal changes, soft parts such as the front and rear bumpers will definitely be changed for a more Toyota-like look. There might be minor revisions to the headlamps as well and we also expect to see significant changes on the inside as well with different color schemes, graphics and trim panels. Toyota is expected to launch the Urban Cruiser by late July or early August, depending when we are able to overcome the current coronavirus crisis.
