Will looks borrowed from Fortuner be enough for Urban Cruiser to win hearts?

NEW DELHI:

Toyota Kirloskar Motor

on Tuesday dropped another tweet highlighting the front end of the

Urban Cruiser

. The pre-bookings for the SUV have already commenced.



The

Toyota Urban Cruiser

took the spotlight recently as the fully revealing images of the compact SUV were leaked much before they were supposed to be made public. The Urban Cruiser has now been officially listed on the Toyota website after the fiasco.

The Toyota Urban Cruiser is rebadged version of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, hence borrowing the entire structure from the Indian rival. The only unique difference that was anticipated was the front-end of the Urban Cruiser. It was expected that Toyota would be presenting the Urban Cruiser with a completely retouched front-end with the automaker’s signature grille and probably new headlamps and fog lamps.

With the Urban Cruiser fully revealed and retouched, it more or less looks like a mini

Toyota Fortuner

. The dual chamber LED projector headlamps with dual function LED DRL/indicator and the LED foglamps, give the Urban Cruiser a heavy resemblance to the iconic Toyota SUV. The premium split LED tail lamps and the LED high-mounted stop lamp at the rear don’t any good to the compact SUV as they don’t add much to the originality factor. Even the 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels have been borrowed from Brezza with an added chrome highlight and the Toyota insignia.

Under the hood, Toyota Urban Cruiser borrows the same engine from the Brezza. The compact SUV is powered by the K-Series 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine. It doesn’t just stop there as the Urban Cruiser is also borrowing the mild-hybrid technology from the Brezza. The Toyota Urban Cruiser’s automatic variants will come equipped with a lithium-ion battery with ISG (integrated starter generator). The same mild-hybrid was introduced in the 2020 Vitara Brezza earlier this year and the compact SUV has also limited this tech to the automatic variants. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Toyota Urban Cruiser become the only sub-4m SUVs in India to be offered with mild hybrid tech.

On the inside, the Urban Cruiser gets a unique dual-tone dark brown interior, quite different from the all-black interiors of the Vitara Brezza. The Toyota Urban Cruiser borrows features like start/stop button,

Smart Playcast

infotainment system, cruise control, automatic climate control, rain-sensing wipers and the electrochromic rearview mirror from the Brezza as they are.

Toyota Urban Cruiser also offers 8 out of 9 colour schemes that Brezza offers. The sizzling red paint work has been replaced by the rustic brown colour scheme.

Almost all the features of the Toyota Urban Cruiser have been taken from the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza or the Toyota Fortuner. Toyota clearly missed the chances it had to present the Urban Cruiser as a little bit unique and original offering. The exterior redesigning, interiors, colour schemes and drivetrain had massive scopes in terms of making Toyota Urban Cruiser stand out. It will be very interesting to see how the compact SUV is received in the market and how does it actually perform on road.