Long time nothing heard from Suzuki? You are absolutely right. Therefore, here is now a kind of little overview. Since 2015, the cooperation with VW has finally ended. The tenth passenger car brand in the group, if we add the VW commercial vehicles, they did not want to be.

Instead, starting in 2019, there will be a partnership with Toyota, sealed not by takeover, but by mutual exchange of shares. Toyota will provide the know-how about e-mobility in the field of hybrid technology, and Suzuki the ability to build smaller cars and market them cleverly. Here in Germany, however, we don't have much of that, because neither the Alto, which has been built since 1979, nor the Celerio, which has been built since 2014, can be bought here.

The lowest-priced model is the Ignis in the third generation from 2000 for at least €15,500 and above that the Swift, here available in two versions, with an even further back and interwoven origin. Vitara and SX4 are also not of recent origin. Interestingly, all of these models except the Jimny, which is quite old in principle, have only mild hybrids, which doesn't do much for the CO₂ balance in Europe.

The lack of supply here is probably also due to the fact that all Suzuki plants are located quite far away from Europe, the only one in Spain was closed in 2011. As a lifeline, two models were taken over from Toyota. The RAV4 became the Across and the Corolla Touring the Swace. This means that now one full hybrid and one plug-in hybrid can be offered.

Why one is now called a 'full hybrid' and the other only a 'plug-in hybrid' is not entirely clear, because the electric energy of the former is just barely enough to get through a medium-sized city, while the other, according to the manufacturer, should be able to drive 75 km and thus even be subsidized by the government. However, you have to give the traditional Toyota hybrid drive credit for a sophisticated fuel-saving regulation.