Suzuki to go almost all-hybrid in Australia

Suzuki Australia is doing a Toyota and going all-hybrid across its passenger car and light-duty SUV line-up.

By early 2026, the Suzuki Jimny compact off-road SUV will be the only model in the Australian range not to offer some form of petrol-electric assistance – if the plan comes to fruition.

The new mild-hybrid Suzuki Swift – marketed as the Swift Hybrid – starts Suzuki’s Australian electrification campaign when it rolls into dealership on June 15.

“This [Swift] is chapter one,” said Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pachota. “By the end of next year the majority of our range will be hybrid. Except for Jimny.”

An updated Vitara small SUV with hybrid assistance will launch here in early 2025 and a hybrid S-Cross is due around the same time.

Both cars are built in Hungary and the Vitara facelift has already broken cover with both mild-hybrid and plugless hybrid powertrains. The S-Cross update has yet to be revealed.

Later in 2025, Suzuki will introduce the much-delayed Indian-built Fronx compact crossover to Australia.

Its arrival will overlap with the last supplies of the Ignis mini-SUV, which is set to expire locally in early 2026.

Suzuki Australia is also expected to launch its first-ever EV – likely to be an SUV based on the eVX concept – before the end of 2026.

Pachota said the aim was for all models in the Swift, Vitara, S-Cross and Fronx ranges to be hybridised in some form, meaning the end of orthodox internal combustion drivetrains in Suzuki models Down Under apart from Jimny.

“As you can see from the Swift introduction, I said ‘hybrid from the ground up’ so my plan for the future is to do the same [with other new models].

“I’d like to bring everything into hybrid and have a complete hybrid platform.

“That is what I am working toward. Eventually it will get there, there’s no doubt. Eventually everything will be hybrid or some form of electrification or a different fuel.

“But in 2025 we will still have non-hybrid platforms – Jimny, Ignis will still be for sale, Swift Sport will still be for sale – so there will be a transition period.”

Pachota acknowledged the importance of the 2025 New Vehicle Efficiency Standard emissions-reduction scheme in Suzuki Australia’s swing toward hybrids.

But he emphasised the desire to go hybrid had been in place for several years.

“Welcome to chapter seven of the global plan and chapter one of Australia’s,” he said.

“We’ve had hybrid technology from a global perspective for over a decade and… it’s something that has been on my radar since 2017 when I started as general manager of the company.

“It was one of the first things I asked the company: ‘When can I get a hybrid?’.

“When the NVES decision came through this suited Australia. It was great.”

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