Five Suzuki concepts for 2013 Tokyo Motor Show

Suzuki has announced no less than five concept cars for the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, which takes place in Japan this November. Four of them are new: the Suzuki Crosshiker, the Suzuki X-Lander, the Suzuki Hustler and the Suzuki Hustler Coupe – the fifth being the Suzuki iV-4 already seen at Frankfurt this year.

We’ll start with the best one, which is by no small margin the Crosshiker concept. This funky looking red machine – lead picture above – is based on the same lightweight, efficiency-optimising technology as the Suzuki G70 Regina concept that debuted at Tokyo in 2011.

The difference is, the Crosshiker is a trend-catching crossover, rather than a slippery, aero-optimised city car. Weighing in at just 810kg and powered by a 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine, Suzuki says "it strikes a good balance between power and environmental performance."

We say, Suzuki should stop larking about and put the Crosshiker into immediate production. The proportions are excellent, the styling eyecatching without being alarming and small crossovers are set to be the next, er, big thing. A really viable future small car success, we reckon.

Next up it’s the X-Lander – which looks like Suzuki’s idea of a speedster that’s mated with an off-roader and taken styling tips from the Smart Crossblade (you can’t miss it in the gallery above). So, somewhat implausible, even before you discover it’s based on ancient Suzuki Jimny underpinnings.

Still, this does guarantee impressive off-road ability, and apparently it’s powered by a new lightweight hybrid system combined with an automatically controlled manual gearbox. That last has never spelt good things in the past, and we doubt the X-Lander is about to change our minds.
 

Suzuki

But if you thought that was bonkers, join us in wondering about the sanity of whoever called this little orange box the Suzuki Hustler (picture above and in the gallery).

It’s intended to kick-start a new genre of mini-car that "suits the active lifestyle of people who love the nature, love the outdoors, and love sports". Which means it’s square and spacious for its size, with SUV styling details. Like a baby Hummer. Bless.

Don’t worry if that’s not sporty enough for you, Suzuki has also developed a Hustler Coupe – which is red instead of orange and has a sloping roofline, but still much the same upright stance. Yes, it’s a mini-car / Kei-car take on the crossover coupe; a BMW X6 for Japan’s highly populated cities. Right.

Finally, there’s the Japanese debut of the Suzuki iV-4. Despite having a name that sounds like an ER procedure, we were rather taken by this in Frankfurt.

If, as Suzuki says, it previews the firm’s next generation of proper off-roaders things look very promising indeed. But we said something similar about the concept version of the SX4 S-Cross, and look how boring to look at that turned out. You can read more about the Suzuki iV-4 here.

By CJ Hubbard, contributor, MSN Cars