The 2023 Suzuki Grand Vitara is now in South East Asia.

The Suzuki Vitara was one of the brand’s staple nameplates in the country. It grew to be one of Suzuki’s best-sellers for a time. 

The Grand Vitara, however, is a rather different model. While we did catch glimpses of this model during its global launch in India, the Grand Vitara is now ever closer to the Philippines after experiencing a launch in Indonesia. 

Style-wise the Grand Vitara is a huge improvement over what we currently have in the market today. It’s a totally new look for the Vitara family of models, with a new hexagonal grille, a split headlight design with LED daytime running lights (DRLS), and at the back, we also have LEDs that wrap around the rear of the crossover. The crossover rides on 17-inch wheels with a diamond-cut pattern, and it also has squared-off wheel arches with a little cladding on the side. 

There’s 210mm of ground clearance here, and that metric is useful when going over the humps, bumps, and potholes of the metro. Other dimensions include a length of 4,345mm, a width of 1,795mm wide, and a height of 1,645mm tall. The wheelbase comes in at 2,600mm long. 

The interior has been revamped, but it’s also easy to see that it’s still distinctly Suzuki. As a “grand” option in the Vitara line, we’re seeing leather upholstery in black, a nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system, wireless charging, and a panoramic sunroof that carries over from the “normal” Vitara we have currently. The top-of-the-line trim can also be outfitted with a heads-up display, cruise control, rear aircon vents, and a rear center armrest with cup holders. A 360-degree camera system is also available in Indonesia which is a huge plus in terms of making the car easy to maneuver. You can expect fabric seats, less features, and not-as-snazzy trim pieces on the lower variants, however. 

Perhaps the biggest story in this launch is the fact that Suzuki is really doubling down on its mild hybrid powertrains. The Grand Vitara will come with a 1.5-liter K15C four-cylinder engine that is paired with Suzuki’s Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) and a battery. Suzuki lovingly calls it the Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki (SVHS), which is a mild-hybrid system that further improves the power delivery and the fuel economy of the brand’s engines. 

Current figures put the Grand Vitara at a stunning (not really) 101 hp and 137 Nm of torque. Instead of the four-speed transmission, similar to what’s found in the Ertiga Hybrid, this model gets a six-speed automatic transmission and can be paired with paddle shifters. 

We’re excited to see this model (if ever) in Philippine dealers in the near future. If the Grand Vitara is already in the ASEAN region, it could be only a matter of time before we get a proper successor to the Vitara. Suzuki stated before that the Vitara was getting dropped from the lineup because prices were simply not competitive enough with the influx of numerous brands bringing their own subcompact crossovers. Could the Grand Vitara signal the return of Suzuki’s dominance in the affordable crossover space? Priced right, we think it could compete.