Toyota Motor Corp and Suzuki Motor Corp on Friday said they would begin the production of a hybrid sports utility vehicles (SUV) in August. The Suzuki-developed SUV for India would be manufactured at Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s facility in Bangalore and exported to global markets including Africa.

The power trains of the new model will be equipped with a mild hybrid developed by Suzuki and a strong hybrid developed by Toyota, the statement said.

In a mild hybrid, the battery only assists the piston engine, without the all-electric mode available in a strong hybrid. The yet-to-be-named SUV will be marketed as both a Toyota and a Suzuki model under a cross-badging project.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said by leveraging the respective strengths of Toyota and Suzuki to provide Indian customers with a variety of options, the two companies hope to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Suzuki president Toshihiro Suzuki said the production of the new SUV at Toyota Kirloskar Motor is a project that can contribute to the growth of India by providing eco-friendly mobility needed by customers.

India wants carmakers to build more electric models but the uptake for such vehicles so far has been slow, and only Tata Motors builds them locally. Suzuki committed itself in March to investing $1.4 billion in the country to produce BEVs and batteries, but local unit Maruti Suzuki said it will not launch a fully electric vehicle before 2025.

Analysts said cross-badging is a practice where the same car is sold with cosmetic changes under a different brand name. They said the Nissan Micra and Renault Pulse are basically the same products. So are Volkswagen’s Vento and Skoda Rapid.

“By bringing together the strengths of both Toyota and Suzuki through the collaboration, the two companies will be able to provide a wide variety of vehicle electrification technologies to customers and contribute to the acceleration of electrification and the realization of a carbon-neutral society in India,” they said.