Suzuki G70, Swift Range Extender at 2012 Geneva motor show

You will not find too many detractors when it comes to the Swift, particularly in its Sport guise, but its clean-living brother was one of the two highlights on the Suzuki stand. The rather convolutedly-named Range Extender was actually first shown at Geneva in 2010, but has since undergone further development.

More interesting is the G70. Unveiled at the Tokyo show before Christmas as the REGINA, it’s an A segment, low-emission with something of the retro about it.

In the two years since it was first shown here, the Range Extender has resulted in a 100% improvement in battery driving range up to 18 miles. The battery is a lightweight compact lithium-ion type and the hybrid uses a generator and dinky little 660cc three-cylinder petrol engine (three cylinders is the new black of the automotive world). 

It’s the claimed 70g/km emissions that top the bill when it comes to the G70 – and there’s not a range-extending battery in sight. How do they do it? Well, it’s only 730kgs for starters and has a drag coefficient 10% lower than the Swift. It also has Auto Stop Start with regenerative braking and a turbo-charged direct injection petrol block with, you guessed, a CVT gearbox.

Ok. The Suzuki press release claims the styling is ‘emotional’. Happy? Yes, seemingly every new vehicle produced these days will be an ‘emotional’ purchase. It’s become the biggest marketing cliché in the motoring world in the past couple of years. What isn’t a cliché – yet – is ‘premium casual’, which isn’t a way you should dress to a party but what Suzuki say means ‘mature elegance and fine quality’.
By mature, perhaps they mean those retro styling cues. It’s a bit Renault 8, don’t you think? And that split colourway is Mini Cooper. It’s sure to be softened if it goes into production, but there’s something rather fetching about the G70.

By Stephen Worthy