2025 Suzuki Vitara Hybrid coming to Australia next year, facelift unveiled

The 2025 Suzuki Vitara is due to add the option of hybrid power in Australia between January and March next year – its 10th year on sale in its current form – after the ageing SUV was given its second facelift in Europe this week.

Details of the Vitara hybrid are yet to be outlined for Australia, however it is expected to be what is sold as a Toyota-style ‘full hybrid’ overseas, combining a 1.5-litre petrol engine with a small electric motor and six-speed transmission.

Some form of hybrid technology is also planned to be added to the related S-Cross SUV late this year or early next year – and is expected to come to the new-generation Swift due in Australian Suzuki showrooms in June.

A facelift for the Vitara – the second since the current model arrived in Australia in 2015 – has been unveiled in Europe, with revised styling, a new infotainment screen, and upgraded safety features.

It is unclear if all of the upgrades announced for Europe – where the Vitara and S-Cross are built, in Hungary – will make their way to Australia. Prior to the latest model in 2022, many key safety features on European S-Cross SUVs were not offered locally.

It was previously anticipated the Vitara would be replaced by the eVX electric SUV due next year.

However Suzuki has elected to invest in a range of new safety features – some not offered on newer cars in the small-SUV class – to ensure it can remain in European showrooms once strict new safety regulations come into force in July.

Among the new systems is traffic-sign recognition – which reads speed signs, displays the detected speed on the dashboard, and beeps if the driver exceeds the detected speed for an extended period of time.

Similar systems have received criticism from customers and media when fitted to the latest Hyundai, Kia, BYD and Chery vehicles – among others – and are required by European law.

It is unclear if a digital speedometer has been added.

Also fitted are lane-keep and lane centring assistants – which can steer to prevent the car from leaving its lane, or keep the car centred in the lane when adaptive cruise control, rather than merely beeping when the vehicle strays from its lane, as with the outgoing Vitara.

There is also a driver attention monitor which watches the driver’s eyes – and beeps if they are looking away from the road for too long – as well as an upgraded autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system which uses wider-angle sensors, and gains motorcycle and intersection awareness.

On the outside, the 2025 facelift gains a restyled front bumper with a larger lower grille, gloss black highlights, and the deletion of the fog lights – plus updated headlight signatures, and new-design alloy wheels.

There are two new paint colours in Europe: two-tone Sphere Blue Pearl with a black roof, and single-tone Titan Dark Grey Pearl Metallic.

Inside, a larger 9.0-inch touchscreen has been fitted from the S-Cross, with wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

The current Vitara in Australia is fitted with a 7.0-inch touchscreen including wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – but for 18 months during the pandemic were sold with locally-fitted 9.0-inch screens, not designed by Suzuki and unrelated to the updated model’s display.

The new infotainment screen introduces support for a Suzuki Connect smartphone app, which allows owners to track their vehicle, check past trips, and be reminded of the time until the next service.

In Europe, buyers can choose from two hybrid variants: a ‘full hybrid’ which can power the car on electric or petrol power, depending on the scenario, or a mild-hybrid which can only use the electric motor to assist the engine, not power the car on its own.

The Toyota-esque ‘full hybrid’ combines a 75kW 1.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine with a 24kW electric motor, 140-volt lithium-ion battery for an 85kW combined output.

It is matched with a six-speed ‘automated manual’ transmission – which is a manual transmission with a computer-controlled clutch, so it only has two pedals. Claimed fuel economy for the ‘full hybrid’ is 5.2 to 5.8L/100km in Europe.

Meanwhile, the mild hybrid uses a 95kW 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine assisted by a small electric motor and 48-volt battery – charged when braking – to provide a tiny boost under acceleration, and turn off and restart the engine faster when stopped in traffic.

It claims fuel consumption of 5.3 to 5.6L/100km, and is matched with a six-speed manual transmission. Both variants are offered with front- or all-wheel drive.

The current Vitara is sold in Australia with a 1.6-litre non-turbo petrol engine matched with a five-speed manual or six-speed auto, and front-wheel drive – or a 1.4-litre turbo engine with a six-speed auto, and front- or all-wheel drive.

The 2025 Suzuki Vitara facelift is due in European showrooms mid-year.

A Suzuki Australia spokesperson told Drive “final specifications [for Australia] are yet to be confirmed”, but the local Vitara Hybrid is due on sale between January and March 2025.

The post 2025 Suzuki Vitara Hybrid coming to Australia next year, facelift unveiled appeared first on Drive.

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