Suzuki e-Vitara revealed: The brand's first electric car is on its way

Suzuki presents its first electric car. The Suzuki e-Vitara is to be built at Suzuki Motor Gujarat in India from spring 2025; sales in Europe, India and Japan will then begin in summer 2025.

Suzuki is showing a number of pictures, but is still holding back on the data and even more so on the prices. However, it is already clear that there will also be a Toyota version.

Exterior and dimensions

The e-Vitara is based on the eVX concept car, which made its debut at the Auto Expo in India in January 2023 and was then shown again at the Japan Mobility Show in October 2023. At 4.28 metres in length, the car is the same size as the Kia EV3 or Peugeot E-2008. However, at 1.64 metres, the height is the same as the Smart #1. No data is yet available on the boot volume.

The design of the car clearly resembles the Toyota Urban SUV study. Apparently, the production model will be the Toyota version of the Suzuki e-Vitara, as Toyota recently announced that Suzuki will supply Toyota with an electric SUV built in India.

Toyota Urban SUV Concept

Suzuki eVitara

The brand describes the car as an Emotional Versatile Cruiser. In the pictures, the car certainly looks quite beefy and angular, almost crystalline. The robustness is emphasised by the slightly angular wheel cut-outs and the black scratch protection strips on the lower edge of the body.

Interior

Inside, there are two horizontal displays right next to each other. With the visually accentuated air vents and numerous physical controls, the cockpit looks a little restless, especially in the two-colour version. The transmission modes P, N, R and D are apparently activated with a rotary wheel in the centre console. There is also a switch for the driving modes and the parking brake.

The cockpit looks a little unsettled

Drive and battery

Suzuki refers to the electric car platform as Heartect-e. The Suzuki e-Vitara is available in Europe with either 144 PS or 174 PS front-wheel drive or an all-wheel drive system with 184 PS. In addition to the 128 kW engine at the front, the all-wheel drive model also has a small 48 kW engine at the rear. The system output is less than the sum of the engine outputs, so it is obviously limited by the battery or the software. The all-wheel drive version has a trail mode. In order to get out of awkward off-road situations, a spinning wheel is braked and the drive torque is redirected to the opposite wheel. Suzuki does not provide any information on the type of engines and is also keeping a low profile on the driving performance.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) with 49 or 61 kWh are used for energy storage. Suzuki does not specify whether these are gross or net capacities, but with LFP batteries the difference is usually small. Suzuki has not yet provided any information on the charging modalities and range. The data from its rivals can perhaps serve as a guide: The EV3 with 58 kWh gross manages up to 272 miles, the E-2008 with 54 kWh gross comes to 254 miles and the Smart #1 with 66 kWh gross up to 273 WLTP miles.

The instrument display still shows 250 km remaining range at 81% SoC

The instrument display still shows a remaining range of 155 miles at a charge level of 81 per cent. This means that the total range could be around 193 miles, which is probably the range of the basic version. The 61 kWh versions should manage between 250 and 280 miles.  

Gallery: Suzuki e Vitara (2025)

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Source: Suzuki

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The bottom line

Suzuki is presenting a new electric SUV that, at just under 4.30 metres, belongs in the upper B or lower C segment. The drives are rather weak and the batteries are not too big either. However, all-wheel drive is rather rare in the segment - Stellantis does not have it, nor does Kia.