Toyota dealerships in Kenya are now selling Suzuki models along with their own products, taking the Suzuki-Toyota partnership to the next level in the countries where the action is possible. Suzuki and Toyota entered a joint venture where the brands will share architecture and product components to cut on the total cost of car development. The joint operations in India will focus on sharing platform between Baleno and an unnamed hatchback from Toyota. In Kenya, the product sharing seems like a smaller effect as Suzuki by Toyota Kenya counter in their dealership is displaying Jimny, Gypsy, Ciaz, Vitara (the bigger one) and even Alto for the buyers.
The pricing for Kenya is quite high in comparison to the Indian pricing for almost all the products, most probably due to the high amount of their local taxation. The rebadging plan seems effective for brands like India where buyers will not consider watching the merger of two indirect rivals. Here, the vast footprint of Maruti Suzuki will benefit Toyota cars only while a number of buyers choosing a Suzuki car by visiting the nearest Toyota dealership will be next to zero. As the majority of Maruti Suzuki models sold here are below INR 10 lakh, the trend is opposite for Toyota as their majority of models sold fall in the price bracket of INR 15-30 lakh.
Even the Ciaz-rivalling Toyota Yaris has failed to impress buyers with sales figure less than 500 units in every month. Dubai-based firm CMC was earlier the only distributor for Suzuki cars in Kenya and now, the Toyota partnership may end their exclusive status regarding the brand in the country. The most affordable model from Suzuki, Alto 800, costs approx INR 6.10 lakh (direct conversion into the Indian currency) in Kenya. The retail lineup consists of the much-debated Jimny and Vitara GL in their market.
