1988 Suzuki Samurai on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Next Suzuki SX4 spotted again

Thanks to a sketch of the Suzuki S-Cross concept, we can already see the styling direction that the next-generation SX4 will take, and Suzuki is still hard at work on the production version of the car as evidenced by this latest batch of spy shots. These photos look almost identical to those captured back in July, but we see a little more detail at the rear of the car and get a better idea of the next SX4's proportions.
With the baggy camouflage lifted up at the rear of this prototype, we can see that the SX4 replacement has a very Mazda-chic look to it with downward-angled taillights that stretch into the liftgate. Aside from this, the big news is that we're finally getting a sense of the new SX4's size. Suzuki's press release attached to the Paris-bound S-Cross sketch said that the SX4 replacement would be growing to the compact segment rather than being a subcompact like the current car. Recent reports indicate that the next version of this car will be sized closer to the Grand Vitara, and in these pictures, you can definitely see how much the car has grown.
Still unknown is when we can expect to see the production version of the new SX4, or what will be inside it (available turbo power?), but hopefully Suzuki will not delay things like it did with the Kizashi and its numerous concepts.

Suzuki: 'No comment' on returning to the U.S. with the Jimny

It is impossible not to love the Suzuki Jimny. A prototypical cute ute, with equal parts cuteness and utility, it not only defined its segment, it became a cult classic. Now, it's back, but unfortunately unlikely to come to the American market as the Jimny, Samurai or anything else. "We have no comment on the Jimny or Suzuki returning to the U.S. market," says Nathalie Geslin, a spokesperson for Suzuki in France, from the floor of the Paris Motor Show, where the adorable Jimny made its recent premiere. "For that you'll have to ask Suzuki headquarters in Japan." In France, this is what is known as Le Brushoff. Geslin did confirm that, in the markets around the world where the Jimny will appear, it will be available only in one spec: an adaptable, RWD/AWD, closed hardtop with a manual transmission with available Low range, and powered by a 102-horsepower 1.5-liter gasoline engine. "Suzuki has eliminated diesel motors from their whole range," she said, a notable move and a trend flowing from the fuel's immutable high particulate and noxious gas emissions, and growing global sensitivity to their effects. Actually, she tells us, there will be one other spec. "In the Japanese market, there will be a Kei Car version, an actual smaller Kei Car, which means it will be powered by a motor of less than 600cc." Just 1,500 of these cars are expected to be sold in the French market, mainly to people who, according to Geslin, are not off-reading aficionados, but "People who go off-roading in their normal life, who live in the mountains or work in an area with rugged conditions." This sounds to us like a description of every small-scale goat cheese producer in the White Mountains in rural Vermont, every boutique mountainside vintner in Sonoma county, every yellow micro-beet farmer in the Wisconsin Dells. And all of us who live in four-season climates and love the outdoors but think a Jeep is perfect except that it's a third too large. Like the Jeep, the Jimny is retro cool without being retro. It is just itself. And we need it. If it takes only 1,500 potential buyers in France to allow it to be sold there, how many does that translate to in America? If all of us start emailing Suzuki headquarters every day to beg for it, maybe we can find out. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Suzuki previews e-Survivor concept, the cutest ute yet

If you've ever thought of Suzuki as a whimsical manufacturer of small or smallish vehicles, you're going to like what the manufacturer plans to show at the upcoming 45 th Tokyo Motor Show. The e-Survivor Concept reimagines the classic Suzuki jeep as an all-electric vehicle, and it's filled with interesting styling cues both retro and futuristic. The e-Survivor is not only lightweight in construction, it also looks like it, with vestigial wheelarches and see-through doors. The electric motors are housed in the wheels, leaving the ladder-frame construction able to be as skinny as possible. The dashboard houses large screens showing infotainment controls, navigation settings and the vehicle itself, and there are rear-view cameras in place of mirrors. According to the manufacturer, the e-Survivor is a compact SUV of "the next age," which could even hint of an electric 4x4 being the way for Suzuki to survive in this century — or in its second century: the company is 100 years old in 2020, and its concepts show what Suzuki sees beyond that. Perhaps something from the e-Survivor will make production after 2020; independent wheel-mounted electric motors would certainly suit a small, light SUV. Other exhibits are the "tall miniwagon" Spacia Concept, the XBEE crossover available in several different guises, the friendly-looking Carry Open-Air Market Concept and a "neo-retro styled" SV650X bike. Related Video: