Suzuki may be bringing a traditional ‘full’ hybrid version of its Vitara to Australia, but it won’t be offered in Queensland or the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.
Likewise, in this part of the country the axe has fallen on Suzuki’s other small SUV, the S-Cross.
“At this stage, once our current stock of Vitara and S-Cross is gone, we don’t intend to bring it back,” Suzuki Queensland general manager Paul Dillon told CarExpert.
“Maybe down the track [if] Suzuki come up with another upgrade, we might review it down the track. But at this stage, we’re not planning on bringing Vitara and S-Cross back.
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“They do have a hybrid version, but we’re not planning on [bringing it],” he added, noting the Vitara Hybrid had already been confirmed for a first-quarter 2026 launch by Suzuki Australia.
But why is Suzuki Queensland axing two small SUVs when the segment has continued to grow?
“Vitara has been in our market for quite a while, so it’s not a decision we’ve made lightly. But we have to assess what works in our market, and at the moment Vitara Hybrid on paper doesn’t work in our market,” explained Mr Dillon.
“There wasn’t a lot of demand for [the Vitara Hybrid], and if you look at VFACTS that’s an extremely competitive segment of the market and it just wasn’t selling the volume we needed to sell and wasn’t achieving the goals we needed to achieve,” Mr Dillon continued.
Shipments to Australia of the petrol-powered Vitara and S-Cross ceased earlier this year because the outgoing models were not compliant with new Australian Design Rules (ADRs) surrounding autonomous emergency braking (AEB).
It’s expected that when shipments of the Vitara resume, they will be solely hybrid-powered vehicles, with petrol Vitaras axed nationwide.
The S-Cross’ Australian future appears less certain, with Suzuki Australia not confirming local launch timing.
That will leave Suzuki Queensland showrooms with just three models: the Jimny compact off-roader, Swift light hatch, and the just-launched Fronx light SUV.
The Ignis and Swift Sport have been axed nationwide, and Suzuki is running out existing stock.
The eVitara electric SUV’s launch in Queensland isn’t set in stone, though Mr Dillon said: “it’s certainly our intention [to release it] assuming the numbers from Japan stack up”.
Suzuki Australia, in contrast, has confirmed the electric SUV for release in the first quarter of 2026.
While Suzuki is losing models locally, the company’s Queensland distributor has teased new product in the pipeline.
“They’ve come out and shown us some product. It’s probably too early for us to talk about at this stage, but another SUV that kind of looks like the eVitara but maybe not electric. Hybrid,” said Mr Dillon.
“We’ve certainly asked for consideration of that car when it becomes available. It’s still in development at this stage.
“They’ve got another light electric car coming down the path, maybe another year.”
The current, Hungarian-built S-Cross launched here in 2022, but it was a heavy update of a model that entered production in 2013.
Suzuki Australia had previously confirmed it would bring a hybrid version of the S-Cross to Australia in 2024, but it never eventuated.
The Vitara is almost as old, entering production in 2015 and receiving a Series II update in 2019.
ABOVE: Updated Vitara Hybrid
A hybrid version was also confirmed for a 2024 launch, before being delayed to the first quarter of 2025 and then to the first quarter of 2026.
In the UK, the Vitara Hybrid features a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine delivering 75kW of power and 101Nm of torque, mated with a 24.6kW electric motor and a six-speed automated manual transmission. It’s offered with either front- or all-wheel drive.
Claimed fuel economy is between 5.0L/100km and 5.6L/100km, but it’s significantly slower than the 1.4-litre mild-hybrid also offered in the UK.
Suzuki UK claims a 0-100km/h time of 12.7 seconds with front-wheel drive and 13.5 seconds with all-wheel drive, against sprint times of 9.5 and 10.2 seconds for the mild-hybrid.
Both the Vitara and S-Cross sit in the Small SUV segment in VFACTS sales reports, but the Vitara has always been a stronger seller in Australia.
Last year Suzuki recorded 2934 deliveries nationwide of the Vitara (up 45.5 per cent) against 706 for the S-Cross (up 18.1 per cent).
That saw the Vitara outsell rivals like the Toyota C-HR (2828) and Skoda Kamiq (1284), and record its best sales year since 2022 when Suzuki shifted 3114 examples.