Badge-engineered hybrid wagon gets an overhauled petrol-electric powertrain and extra standard equipment
Badge engineering has always been a challenging concept for the car industry to deal with, even though it’s a practice almost as old as the car itself. In the 1990s and 2000s, for most car-manufacturers at least, the phenomenon morphed into the more sophisticated art of platform engineering (as part of which models sold under different brands might have different bodies and dimensions, but shared substantially similar chassis, axles, engines and interiors).But, as the car business has spread its wings and become truly global, the badge-engineered car has made a return; and not only in places like Asia, South Africa and South America. The Suzuki Swace remains one of a handful of cars on sale in the UK that few would mistake for anything meaningfully different than the Toyota Corolla ‘Touring Sport’ estate with which it shares the vast majority of componentry, but for a handful of exterior body parts and interior panels. The Suzuki Across plug-in hybrid SUV has a similar relationship to a Toyota RAV4 PHEV. And, in other showrooms and for the same reason, you might have noticed that a Mazda 2 Hybrid bears an uncanny likeness to a Toyota Yaris; because they are very-near identical cars.Like the Corolla, the Swace is built at Toyota’s UK Burnaston factory; although its days are numbered, Suzuki having recently announced plans to discontinue production of the car during the first half of 2025.For the time being, however, and for as long as dealer stock levels last, this car remains a route into ownership of a practical, efficient, full hybrid family car that will be singularly easy to own and operate, and that probably deserves to be better known than it is.
