Australia (Commonwealth) _ After receiving its second makeover this week in Europe, the aging SUV will have the option of hybrid power in Australia between January and March of 2025. This will mark the vehicle’s tenth year on the market.
The Vitara hybrid’s specifications for Australia have not yet been released, however it is anticipated to be what is marketed as a “full hybrid” in the Toyota sense abroad, with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine, a tiny electric motor, and a six-speed gearbox.
The associated S-Cross SUV is also anticipated to receive hybrid technology by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. The new Swift is scheduled to arrive in Australian Suzuki dealerships in June. The Vitara has received a makeover in Europe, marking the second since the current model was introduced in Australia in 2015. It comes with updated safety features, a new infotainment screen, and updated appearance.
It’s unclear if Australia will receive all of the updates that were revealed for Europe—where the Vitara and S-Cross are manufactured in Hungary. Many essential safety features on European S-Cross SUVs were unavailable locally prior to the release of the most recent model in 2022.
It was originally predicted that the eVX electric SUV, which is scheduled to arrive next year, will replace the Vitara. To guarantee that it can stay in European showrooms once stringent new safety standards take effect in July, Suzuki has chosen to invest in a number of additional safety measures, some of which are not available on more recent models in the small-SUV class.
Traffic-sign recognition is one of the newer technologies; it reads speed signs, shows the measured speed on the dashboard, and emits beeps if the driver continuously exceeds the reported speed. Comparable systems, which are mandated by European legislation, have drawn criticism from consumers and the media when installed in the newest Hyundai, Kia, BYD, and Chery automobiles, among others. Whether a digital speedometer has been fitted is unknown.
In addition, lane-keep and lane-centering helpers are included. Unlike the previous Vitara, which just beeps when the car strays from its lane, these assistants may steer to maintain the car in its lane or keep it centered when using adaptive cruise control.
Additionally, there is an enhanced automated emergency braking (AEB) system that employs wider-angle sensors and acquires motorbike and junction awareness, as well as a driver attention monitor that tracks the driver’s eyes and beeps if it detects that the driver is looking away from the road for an extended period of time.
The exterior of the 2025 facelift has new alloy wheels, modified headlamp signatures, and a redesigned front bumper with a bigger lower grille, gloss black accents, and the removal of the fog lights. Two-tone Sphere Blue Pearl with a black roof and single-tone Titan Dark Grey Pearl Metallic are the two new paint colors available in Europe. A bigger 9.0-inch touchscreen from the S-Cross has been installed inside, and it supports both wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.
The current Vitara in Australia has a 7.0-inch touchscreen with connected Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. However, during the pandemic, the car was marketed for eighteen months with locally installed 9.0-inch displays, which were not made by Suzuki and had nothing to do with the display on the upgraded model.
Support for the Suzuki Connect smartphone app, which enables owners to track their car, review previous travels, and be informed when their next service is due, is now available with the upgraded infotainment screen.
In Europe, consumers have a choice between two types of hybrid vehicles: a “full hybrid,” which can run on gasoline or electricity, depending on the situation, and a “mild hybrid,” which can only run the vehicle by using its electric motor to support the engine. The Toyota-like “full hybrid” generates 85kW total power from a 1.5-liter non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 75kW, a 24-kW electric motor, and a 140-volt lithium-ion battery.
The six-speed “automated manual” transmission that comes with it is a manual transmission with a computer-controlled clutch, resulting in just two pedals. The ‘complete hybrid’ is said to get between 5.2 and 5.8 liters per hundred kilometers in Europe.
A 48-volt battery that is charged during braking and a 95kW 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine let the mild hybrid deliver a little boost during acceleration as well as switch on and restart the engine more quickly while it is stopped in traffic. It has a six-speed manual transmission and a fuel economy figure of 5.3 to 5.6L/100km. Both versions come with the option of front- or all-wheel drive.
The current Vitara is available in Australia with a front-wheel drive, five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission and a 1.6-liter non-turbo petrol engine, or a 1.4-liter turbo engine mated to a six-speed auto transmission and front- or all-wheel drive. By mid-year, the 2025 Suzuki Vitara facelift should be arriving in European markets. “Final specifications [for Australia] are yet to be confirmed,” a Suzuki Australia representative told Drive, although the local Vitara Hybrid is scheduled to go on sale in January or March of 2025.
