SAGA CRUISE?(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 37

Toyota's first small EV crossover, the Urban Cruiser, should help the brand widen its appeal amongst those looking to go electric. It aims to combine fashion and practicality and, sure enough, seems to tick some trendy boxes.

Background word count: 213

Toyota doesn't seem completely comfortable with EVs in the way it is with Hybrids. It's been so slow in developing full-electric vehicles that it missed the 2024 UK ZEV mandate target by a full 15%. Even more surprisingly, by that point all three of the EV cars the company had bought us were created as part of joint projects led by other brands. Namely the bZ4X (engineered with Subaru) and the Proace Verso EV and Proace City Verso EV twins (engineered by Stellantis). True to form, the Urban Cruiser model we look at here was also created from a joint project. Toyota urgently needs smaller, more affordable EVs and this was the product of a joint venture with Suzuki, who developed their first electric vehicle, the e Vitara, from it. The Urban Cruiser shares all its engineering with that car and rolls down the same production line in India, a market where the Urban Cruiser name is used for a re-badged Suzuki Grand Vitara. Primarily though, the 'Urban Cruiser' nameplate is Toyota's. It launched on a trendy-looking model sold in Europe (including the UK) between 2009 and 2012, which was then replaced by a second generation design we didn't get. Now though, it's back for a new electric era. Let's take a look.