Announced for South Africa at the end of last year, Suzuki’s Maruti division has started shipping export versions of the Victoris to no less than 100 markets, including South Africa.
Name change
In a short statement over the weekend, the brand confirmed that around 450 vehicles departed from the Mundra and Pipavav ports on Friday (16 January) for, amongst others, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
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As in South Africa, export market versions will be badged Across, thereby using the same name as the rebadged version of the now previous generation Toyota RAV4 sold in Europe since 2020.
“Maruti Suzuki’s export journey is guided by the vision of Made in India, Make for the World,” the division’s Managing Director and CEO, Hisashi Takeuchi, said.
“We emerged as India’s number one passenger vehicle exporter for the fifth year in a row. If we look at growth of India’s passenger vehicle exports in the past five years from 2020 to 2025, while the rest of industry grew by 1.43 times, Maruti Suzuki exports grew by 4.67 times.
“The addition of Victoris will further support our export ambitions, and we are hopeful it will be well received in international markets”.
New range-topper
Set to become Suzuki Auto South Africa’s new flagship, the Across will be positioned above the Grand Vitara, whose line-up underwent a quiet restructuring in November with the removal of the hybrid variant, as well as the conventional petrol-engined GLX equipped with the manual gearbox.
In India, the Victoris offers a choice of two engines; the normally aspirated 1.5 K15C outputting 76kW/139Nm, and the Toyota-sourced 1.5-litre self-charging hybrid rated 68kW/141Nm.
Transmissions for the former are a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic, with Suzuki’s AllGrip all-wheel drive being a further option in combination with the automatic ‘box only.
For the hybrid, drive goes to the front wheels only through a CVT.
Pricing?
Priced from Rs 1 049 900 to Rs 1 998 900 in India, which amounts to between R194 525 and R370 355 when directly converted and without taxes, local market spec and price for the Across has not yet been finalised.
However, with the range-topping Grand Vitara 1.5 GLX auto stickered at R453 900, expect the Across to possibly retail from around the R470 000 to R480 000 market, thereby making it the only Suzuki priced above R500 000 in the case of more upmarket trim levels.
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