With the ever-rising prices in fuel lately, all motorists are probably wishing they had a Hybrid just to give them a little more distance (and savings) between trips to the gas station.
While there are some choices already on sale locally, it’s always good to have more options, like they say, the more the merrier.
Photo: Suzuki
There’s a new player in the Hybrid game and it’s Suzuki, with an updated Vitara. Unfortunately, it isn’t for our market (yet). Instead of the current 1.6-liter engine, the 2022 Vitara now gets a 1.5-liter engine paired to a 140-volt lithium-ion battery and inverter, as well as a Motor Generator Unit (MGU) with a 12-volt lithium-ion battery. The resulting outputs are 116PS and 138Nm of torque.
The MGU serves as both a generator and starter, It assists the engine during acceleration. It also has a regenerative system that aids in recovering energy from deceleration and braking. Last but not least, it benefits from an idle-stop function to further save on fuel.
Photo: Suzuki
According to Suzuki, this new powertrain helps the Vitara achieve a whopping 22Kms/l, Suzuki also said 2WD versions of the Vitara Hybrid emit only 121g of CO2 per kilometer just to make it “greener”. The surprising thing about the updated Vitara is its transmission. Instead of the conventional CVT, Suzuki went with the AGS (which you can find in the local Dzire). The reasoning is that Suzuki claims the AGS is lighter than a CVT.
For now, the updated Vitara is only for the UK market, we can only hope and dream that this version of the Vitara makes it to our shores sooner rather than later.
