Toyota Kirloskar Motor India Ltd on Wednesday launched its first compact sports utility vehicle, Urban Cruiser, in price range of Rs 8.40 lakh- Rs11.30 lakh.

Deliveries of Toyota’s new model, which will be available in three variants, including Mid-Grade, High-Grade and Premium-Grade, will start from mid-October.

The new SUV will be looking to compete with the likes of Kia’s Sonet, Hyundai’s Venue, Maruti Suzuki’s Vitara Brezza and Mahindra and Mahindra’s XUV 300.

Urban Cruiser is equipped with projector headlamps, LED fog lamps, 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, and an eye-grabbing

twin-slate chrome grille up front.

The SUV also sports a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, an auto-dimming inside rearview mirror, cruise control and rain-sensing wipers.

The car is powered by a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol powertrain with an advanced Li-ion battery featuring ISG (integrated starter generator).

Following the Glanza in 2019, the Urban Cruiser SUV comes out as the second installment under the Toyota-Suzuki alliance in India. The Urban Cruiser is a spin-off of the Maruti Vitara Brezza and sports the same exterior design and styling.

The urban customers in India have taken a preference for the sport utility vehicle segment over the past decade. Most carmakers are now eyeing to win over a share of this rapidly increasing segment.

Toyota’s entry into the segment will also help the company push its base in the mass-market vehicle segments in India. Primarily, the Japanese company is known for its premium offerings like Innova Crysta and Fortuner. 

Naveen Soni, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “The compact sport utility vehicle sub-segment is extremely important since its market share in the overall passenger vehicle segment has grown to 14% in 2019 from just 1% in 2013.”

“In the Indian market, most of the volume is there in the lower price points. The Glanza journey was also very important for us since we didn’t have any presence in that segment. It helped us get some insights into the lower end of the market and there are almost 30000 customers of Glanza today,” added Soni.

Price range of different models: 

Mid: Manual – Rs 8.40 lakh | Automatic – Rs 9.80 lakh

High: Manual – Rs 9.15 lakh | Automatic – Rs 10.65 lakh

Premium: Manual – Rs. 9.80 lakh | Automatic -Rs 11.30 lakh