Maruti Suzuki e Vitara Is the eVX! Electric SUV To Take On Nexon EV

Among the major carmakers in the Indian market, Maruti Suzuki was one of the few brands to have abstained from selling EVs in its portfolio. But that's no longer the case. There's a new EV in town wearing the Suzuki badge.

Last night, the brand revealed its first-ever fully electric car in Milan, Italy called the e Vitara. The SUV is based on the Maruti Suzuki eVX concept that was previously showcased at the Bharat Mobility Expo 2024.

The e Vitara is a global product for the brand but it will be produced at Maruti Suzuki's Gujarat plant, which will eventually be exported to other global markets. Now, let’s take a detailed look at what this brand-new EV has to offer.

Build and design 

The e Vitara is built on the HEARTECT-e platform, which is a brand-new platform designed to excel at vehicle stability, rigidity and comfort. Since the e Vitara was designed to be an electric car from scratch, it naturally offers good cabin and boot space. In terms of design, the car has a sharp front fascia with sleek LED headlamps with integrated angular DRLs. There's chunky black body cladding to increase its visual bulk and improve the road presence.

In terms of dimensions, the car is bigger than its ICE sibling, the Brezza, with a length of 4275 mm, width of 1800 mm and a height of 1635 mm. The wheelbase of 2700 mm should make the driving manners more comfortable. The SUV has a ground clearance of 180mm, which should be adequate to tackle most of the speed breakers and potholes.

Performance

The car will be available in two variants: one with a front-wheel drive system and the other with a four-wheel drive system.

The e Vitara will be using Maruti’s in-house ALLGRIP-e four-wheel drive system. This system uses two electric motors, one on each axle, to power the front and rear wheels simultaneously, improving the performance and versatility of the car.

The front wheel drive variant of the car packs options of either a 49kWh or 61kWh battery whereas the four-wheel drive variant is only available with a 61kWh battery pack. The two-wheel drive 49kWh variant produces 142 HP while the 61kWh variant makes 172 HP with both models producing the same 189 Nm of peak torque. The top-of-the-line four-wheel drive variant churns out 181 HP and 300 Nm of torque, which should appeal to performance enthusiasts and offroad aficionados alike.

The charging time and driving range of the car is not officially shared by Suzuki. However, it is believed to offer around 500 km of driving range on a single charge for the top-end variant.

Interior and features 

The car looks equally impressive from the inside as it does on the outside. The e Vitara's interior gets a fresh colour scheme and a new layout for the dashboard with twin connected screens for instrumentation and infotainment. The two-spoke flat-bottom steering wheel uplifts the sporty appeal of the cabin. It boasts a dual-tone colourway on the dashboard as well as the upholstery, which is built using part leatherette and part fabric. 

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Expected pricing, launch date and competition 

The pricing of the vehicle has not been officially announced but we expect it to carry a tag of around INT 20 lakh (ex-showroom) for the base variant. 

The car will be first showcased at the Bharat Mobility Expo 2025 in January 2025 and Maruti will put it on sale by March 2025. The e Vitara will be shared with Toyota under the Global partnership program and be offered on sale as the Toyota Urban SUV this way. 

Once launched, the Maruti e Vitara will be competing against cars like the Tata Curvv EV and Nexon EV, which are some of the established players in the market. The e Vitara will also face heat from the upcoming Hyundai Creta EV and Mahindra’s BE 05, both of which are expected to arrive in India early next year.