Corolla-based Suzuki Swace comes to UK with £27,499 starting price

The new Suzuki Swace hybrid estate car is going on sale in the UK this month with prices starting at around £27,500. The latest product of Suzuki and Toyota's "collaborative business agreement", the Swace is essentially a Toyota Corolla with a new, Suzuki-orientated front end.

Suzuki is hoping to sell 2,000 examples of the new model during its first year on sale, with customers getting a choice of two trim levels. The SZ-T model is the cheapest of the two, priced from £27,499, while the more luxurious SZ-5 will come in at £29,999.

For that money, the SZ-T will get you two-zone automatic air conditioning, a seven-inch LCD colour information screen and the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration systems. Heated front seats are included as standard, too, along with a heated steering wheel, eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system and radar cruise control, which maintains a safe distance to the car in front.

More on Suzuki's joint ventures with Toyota:

Suzuki Swace revealed in Europe as rebadged Toyota Corolla estate

Suzuki Across plug-in SUV will cost almost £46,000 in the UK

Upgrading to the SZ-5 may cost you £2,500, but you get keyless entry and front and rear parking sensors, plus wireless phone charging. Several extra safety systems are also included, such as a blind-spot monitoring system and a system that alerts the driver to oncoming traffic when reversing out of parking spaces.

The SZ-5 also comes with a system called Simple-Intelligent Park Assist (S-IPA), which can be used to help the car into or out of a parking space. Capable of dealing with parallel and perpendicular parking spaces, the system offers audio and visual guidance, but it operates the steering wheel automatically.

Both trim levels come with the 1.8-litre petrol-electric hybrid powertrain found on base-level Corollas. The “self-charging” hybrid system combines a 101 bhp petrol engine with a 71 bhp electric motor, offering a combined power output of 120 bhp.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the system returns up to 64.2 mpg on the official economy test, while CO2 emissions stand at 99 g/km. That puts the Swace in the 24 percent company car tax bracket, although it isn’t enough to avoid the London Congestion Charge.

Although there’s no choice when it comes to the engine, the Swace will be offered with a choice of seven different colours. Two whites – White Pearl Crystal Shine and Super White – will line up alongside Precious Silver, Black Mica and Dark Blue Mica, as well as Phantom Brown Metallic and Oxide Bronze Metallic.

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