Suzuki aims high

By Ben Oliver

Motor Shows

25 October 2007 02:24

Looks kinda lairy for a Suzuki…

Yes, but it could be your next company car. Suzuki is on a mission to break into the car makers’ top ten, raising production from 2.4 to 3 million, and it needs a decent Mondeo-sized saloon, hatch and estate to help do it. The Kizashi launched at Frankfurt will be the saloon and hatch in 2009; this car - the imaginatively monickered Kizashi 2 - will be the estate a year later. With production less than two years away, you can bet that the new car’s looks have been locked down, and that it won’t include the shallow glasshouse, huge wheels or ultra-short rear overhang of this concept. But the front and rear-end treatments and some of the other proportions will give you some clues. It's pleasingly slick for a Suzuki.

Nothing radical, although the GM-sourced 3.6-litre V6 and six-speed auto transmission are the most powerful driveline fitted to a ‘factory’ Suzuki, ironic given that the brand’s growth plans are based around increasing demand for the small, efficient cars it specialises in. But this concept is more about style than substance; the vast majority of whatever Suzuki calls its D-segment car will drink from the black diesel pump. The Kizashi 2 was launched to the kind of heavy rock soundtrack that it thinks the buyers it needs to attract listen to; currently, the average age of buyers of even the trendy Swift – a former CAR Car of the Year – is a greying 50.

By Ben Oliver