If you don’t like how the Toyota badge
looks on the Corolla Touring Sports, you should know you can also have the
compact wagon as the Suzuki Swace. You’ll need to love hybrids and be based in
Europe, though, as the Swace will be sold exclusively in the region with an
electrified powertrain.
If you want to know why, it’s because Suzuki needs to
lower its fleet CO2 emissions in Europe to avoid fines and this deal with
Toyota is the quickest way to accomplish that. The Swace is Suzuki’s second European
model based on a Toyota, following the Across announced in July, which is
essentially a RAV4 PHEV with Suzuki badges.
Why does it only come in estate body
style, you ask? We don’t know the answer but we assume this was a gap in
Suzuki’s European lineup that needed to be filled. Anyway, the Swace looks just
like the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports inside and out, except the badging and
front bumper.
The 1.8-liter self-charging hybrid
powertrain offers a system power of 122 PS, sending power to the
Swace’s wheels using the electric motor, internal combustion engine or both,
depending on the driving conditions. The EV drive mode is made possible by the
53 kW (72 PS) motor and 3.6 kWh battery. Most importantly, CO2 emissions
are as low as 99 g/km over the WLTP cycle.
Suzuki will start selling the Swace in
Europe this winter, with UK specifications to be announced closer to the launch
date.
