Suzuki Landy (R90C/95C/A90C/A95C)

The Suzuki Landy is basically a Nissan Serena borrowed by Suzuki for people whose nearest dealership is a Suzuki. While waiting for the next-generation Nissan Serena to arrive, it seems the Suzuki Landy went for an abrupt full model change without waiting for the original Nissan equivalent? Why's this happening?

2023 Suzuki Landy

2023 Suzuki Landy

There's a clear explanation why Suzuki regenerated the Landy without waiting for its Nissan Serena equivalent, mainly because Suzuki stopped borrowing cars from Nissan due to Nissan's connections with Mitsubishi Motors. For this new model, Suzuki borrowed the fourth-generation Toyota Noah minivan, making it the first Suzuki-fied Toyota vehicle to be sold in Japan, although Suzuki's record of borrowing Toyota vehicles can be traced back overseas, mainly from Europe to India.

2023 Suzuki Landy interior

While seeing a Toyota with a Suzuki badge is nothing new, Japanese families will have their dibs on the first Suzuki-badged Toyota vehicle sold at home for people whose nearest dealership is Suzuki. Using the base variant of the Toyota Noah as the basis, the all-new Landy is surprisingly bigger than its Serena-derived predecessor, meaning it's a big win in the interior space as well, which fits up to seven or eight passengers. Like the Noah, the all-new Landy comes with a Power Back Door Switch, which is located on one of the slides, and the Free Stop Back Door which can be manually held in the middle position.

The all-new Landy comes with two powertrains to choose from. The M20A-FKS 2.0L Dynamic Force engine with Direct Shift-CVT produces 170PS of power, 202Nm of torque, and up to 15.1kmpl of fuel economy. The hybrid variant, meanwhile, uses a combination of a 2ZR-FXE 1.8L petrol engine, CVT, an electric motor (one for FF, two for 4WD), and a Li-ion battery. This setup promises 23.2kmpl of fuel economy based on WLTC Mode standards.

In terms of safety, the all-new Suzuki Landy uses Toyota's Safety Sense, a suite of advanced driving aids, as well as the Advanced Park feature.

With the new Landy making the switch from being a borrowed Nissan Serena into a borrowed Toyota Noah, looks like its abrupt regeneration paid off slightly big dividends in terms of space and efficiency. If you want a new Noah but your nearest dealership is the Suzuki dealership, this is the one for you.

Photo: Suzuki Motor Corporation.