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Suzuki Across PHEV SUV makes UK debut — but where have we seen your face before?

It’s a Suzuki. It costs a snip under £46k. But wait, it’s also the brand’s first ever plug-in hybrid – and with an almost unrivalled 46- mile EV range Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a Toyota Rav4? No - at least not for marketing purposes. Alas, the very familiar face you see before you is in fact the all-new Suzuki Across, the first ever plug-in hybrid SUV from the Japanese carmaker. However, the arrival of this curi-

You see, it’s impossible to get a handle on the new Across without first being across Suzuki’s tie-in with Toyota – if you’ll pardon the pun. Back in Autumn 2019 when handshaking was still a thing, the two Japanese auto powerhouses sealed the deal on a partnership whereby Toyota would commit to letting Suzuki muscle in on sever- al of its future projects involving zero-emissions and even autono- mous driving. Why, you may rightly ask. Well the answer lies, some- what surprisingly, in Suzuki’s near

unshakable stranglehold over one of the world’s most lucrative car markets: India. Through its subsidiary Maruti, Suzuki has somehow managed to capture almost half of India’s entire market share, a figure that high- er-end brands with more ‘premi- um’ aspirations like Toyota would give their right arms for. Hand in hand with its new playmate, Toy- ota is thus hoping to learn from the masters of the price-‘em low, sell-‘em high strategy that’s taking the world’s second most populous country by storm. So, via boardroom wrangling in Japan and a customer feeding frenzy in India, us Brits end up with this curious piece of collateral; the Suzuki Across. Launching in the UK this Au- tumn, the new hybrid member of the Suzuki ranks takes the robust- cum-sporty aesthetic of the arche- typal modern SUV and plonks it atop some serious, off-road ready electronic 4x4 tech. If you don’t currently have the Toyota Rav4 brochure to hand, al- low us to enlighten you further as to the new Suzuki’s design. Size-wise, it’s a good half-metre longer and taller than the Vitara, landing it more or less in the same slot vacated by the now-defunct Grand Vitara mid-sized SUV. The grille, though wider and deeper than the Rav4’s, ultimately bears a much closer resemblance to that of the Toyota surrogate than to those of its own Suzuki stalemates. The front bumper is slotted rather more subtly under the fascia com- pared to the Rav4’s scoop design and features some pretty silver trim along its extremities. The Suzuki makeover also adds skinnier LED headlamps with a bi- beam projector combining low and high beams as well as the obliga- tory LED daytime running lights. Meanwhile, chunky 19-inch alloy wheels, mirroring those of the do- nor Toyota, are standard issue. Owing to its bulkier battery pack, luggage space aboard the Across falls disappointingly short of the Rav4. While the latter will haul 580 litres with the rear seats in place, Suzuki’s iteration can only accom- modate 490 litres, extending to 1,604 litres with the rear bench folded down. This also puts the newcomer some way behind oth- er key rivals such as the Mazda

ous imposter on UK shores surely leaves us with more questions than answers. How come Toyota is handing over the blueprints for one of its star models - hybrid ex- pertise and all - to a relatively jun- ior partner? What exactly does the purveyor of the real McCoy Rav4 stand to gain from this venture? And how can Suzuki justify slap- ping a £45,599 price tag on what is essentially a sheep in sheep’s clothing? With a new badge of course… Allow us to elaborate.

 By Matt Lawrence, Motoring Correspondent

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We offer dealer-level servicing and diagnostics - MOT - testing - repairs. We also specialise in cambelt replacements, DSG gearbox oil changes, 4WD Haldrex coupling oil changes, adblue top-ups, 4 wheel alignment and ADAS calibration and repairs. Upon completion of service we can update manufacturers online digital service records. Why not pop in so we can introduce ourselves while we carry out a free winter level, battery, antifreeze and tyre check. We are a family-owned independent Bosch Car Service Centre, serving New Milton, Highcliffe, Lymington and surrounding areas for 36 years. Combining old-fashioned customer service with today’s modern

slippery or snow-bound surfaces. Talking of getting the rims dirty, the new Across also adds Trail Mode to its arsenal. Essentially an automatic limited slip differential, it too keeps the car from flailing for grip on slick surfaces by apply- ing the brakes to the wheels that begin to lose traction and redirect- ing torque elsewhere. Besides this, Trail Mode also dabbles with throt- tle and shift pattern for optimum control on rather less optimum roads or tracks. A pretty extensive suite of safety features also helps justify the rath- er lofty price tag, with Pre-Collision, Lane Tracing Assist and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control all coming at no extra cost. The all-new Suzuki Across PHEV may be the first Toyota-Suzuki collaboration to hit UK roads but it most certainly won’t be the last. Regardless as to whether this tie- in turns out to be a match made in motoring heaven, we will soon be getting a second hybrid ‘Suzuki’ model from the same copy-cat school as the Across. Christened the Suzuki Swace, it will take the form of a UK-manufactured, Toy- ota-engineered hybrid estate. Oh, and it most definitely won’t be a Corolla estate in disguise. Oh no, definitely not…

Combined, the double-act pumps out 180bhp and 199 lb-ft of rapidly dispatched torque. Here, the perks are two-fold; namely, a compara- tively pacey 0-62mph acceleration time of 6.0 seconds and, at over 46 miles, one of the longest elec- tric-only ranges of any plug-in hy- brid out there on the market today. To squeeze every last yard out of this claimed total you’ll need keep the Across locked into Default EV mode, one of the four drive set- tings available. Auto EV/HV mode and full HV modes deliver varying levels of power from the petrol engine depending how quickly you need to get out of the blocks. To fully replenish the battery’s juice, meanwhile, battery charger mode runs the internal combustion en- gine to gradually recharge the 355V lithium-ion cell. As with the forthcoming upgrad- ed Rav4, the Suzuki Across is seri- ous about its off-road potential. Relying on the new E-Four AWD system for its off-road prowess, the Across features a totally in- dependent 40kW rear motor that works hand in hand with the front one. The long and short of it is that you can have up to 100 per cent torque funnelled to the front wheels or up to 80 per cent spin- ning through the rear axle, there- by helping with quick take-offs on

CX-5 and Honda CR-V in the space stakes. That’s not to say the Across is threadbare on the inside. Sharing precisely the same cabin layout as the Rav4 is insurance enough as far as we’re concerned, so carrying five passengers on longish jour- neys won’t be a problem. A choice of one when it comes to trim levels means what you see in the showroom is very much what you get – and it’s a none-too-shab- by either. Everything from leather upholstered and heated front and rear seats to a heated steering wheel, dual zone air conditioning and automatic opening tailgate is standard off the peg. Besides this, infotainment is capably handled by a 9-inch tablet-style multime- dia touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple Car Play on hand. On the road, the first plug-in hybrid to wear the Suzuki logo inevitably borrows the Toyota Rav4’s 2.5-litre petrol engine and front-mounted electric motor.

complex car technology, by Bosch trained technicians. Courtesy transport to and from work/home available.

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On sale here in the UK right now, the Suzuki Across plug-in hybrid SUV starts at £45,599. ■

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