Suzuki Australia is remaining tight-lipped on pricing for its all-new e Vitara small electric SUV, but Japanese pricing could provide a guide, as could some comments made by the Japanese brand’s local boss.
While media were offered a brief drive of the new e Vitara this week (watch out for our review next Tuesday, March 24, pricing hasn’t yet been announced and won’t be until closer to the new model’s launch in June-July.
“The reason we can’t talk about it today is we’re very, very early in the stages of the launch phase of that car,” said Michael Pachota, general manager for Suzuki Australia.
CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Clickhereto get a great deal.
“But once pricing comes out, you’ll see that it will have a competitive nature.”
The Indian-made Suzuki e Vitara is already on sale in overseas markets like Japan and Europe, and is also available abroad as the rebadged Toyota Urban Cruiser.
While the e Vitara’s UK starting price of £26,249 (A$49,255) points to a local entry price closer to something like the larger Kia EV3, which has substantially more WLTP-tested driving range, the e Vitara’s price in Japan could be a more accurate and promising indicator of the new EV’s positioning Down Under.
The entry-level variant in Japan with a smaller 49kWh battery starts from 3,993,000 yen including the Japanese consumption tax, which converts to A$35,210. The flagship AWD version with a larger 61kWh battery, meanwhile, is listed in Suzuki’s home market at 4,928,000 yen, or A$43,455.
Should Suzuki Australia not stray too far from Japanese-market pricing, we could see the e Vitara range start from under $40,000 when it arrives later this year – not far off the BYD Atto 2 Premium’s $35,990 sticker.
While the Chinese SUV we’ve referenced here is the higher-spec model, it offers similar battery capacity (51.1kWh vs 49kWh) and range (345km vs 344km) to the Suzuki, while the latter also offers a full driver assistance suite and standard specification levels matching its sharply-priced BYD rival – more on that here.
Other key competitors for Suzuki’s first electric vehicle in Australia could include the Chery E5 (from $38,990 drive-away), Leapmotor B10 (from $38,990 drive-away), MG S5 EV (from $40,990 drive-away), and Jaecoo J5 EV (from $36,990 drive-away).
The higher-spec e Vitara Ultra is one of few compact EVs at this end of the market to offer dual-motor all-wheel drive, which none of its aforementioned Chinese rivals offer at this point in time.
Stay tuned to CarExpert for our Australian launch review of the 2026 Suzuki e Vitara next week.