Suzuki e Vitara

THE 'e' in Suzuki e Vitara is of great importance, because it signifies the car is fully electric - making this the brand's first EV.

- Alastair Crooks

Being a similar size to the existing Vitara Hybrid (which remains on sale alongside the electric model), the e Vitara is actually the sister model of Toyota's next electric vehicle - the Urban Cruiser - and is the latest in a series of joint ventures between the two brands, which has already brought us the Corolla and RAV4-derived Swace and Across.

Suzuki took the lead role in developing the e Vitara though, and as a result it beats the Urban Cruiser to the UK market by a few months.

Underneath, it's based on a platform called 'Heartect-e' that Suzuki has developed with Toyota and Daihatsu. Made specifically for electric cars, it offers single and dual-motor configurations, so Suzuki's 'Allgrip' four-wheel drive lives on.

Two batteries are offered: 49kWh and 61kWh. Both are compact 'blade' batteries sourced from BYD in China. The smaller one comes with a 142bhp electric motor and offers 0-62mph in 9.6-seconds, while the 61kWh unit comes with a single 172bhp electric motor for an 8.7-second 0-62mph time. The dual-motor four-wheel drive version with 181bhp reduces the sprint time to 7.4 seconds.