First look: Suzuki presents latest Kizashi concept

SUZUKI will present a development of its wild Kizashi medium-sized concept car at the Tokyo motor show later this month – this time with a 3.6-litre V6 engine, the biggest engine the Japanese micro-car marque claims it has ever used.

Determined to recast the mould as a manufacturer of bigger vehicles, despite using the theme “small cars for a big future” at its all-important home-market auto show, Suzuki has replaced the more Euro-oriented 2.0-litre turbo-diesel shown in Frankfurt just weeks ago for the bigger engine which, like the diesel, is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission.

Left: X-Head and Palate concepts.

No other technical details were provided in the pre-show release, although Suzuki did announce that in addition to the “Kizashi 2” it would unveil three other concepts: “Sustainable Mobility”, the lifestyle-oriented “X-Head” utility and parent-slanted “Palette”.

Sustainable Mobility combines a single-seat low-speed transport pod – “Pixy” – and a minicar-based mobility unit dubbed the Suzuki Sharing Coach (SSC). The pod can also be coupled with a sportscar unit (SSF) and a marine unit (SSJ), creating “a new kind of personal mobility and sharing system”.

The X-Head “cross utility vehicle” is perhaps of more interest to Australian consumers, with off-road capabilities akin to the Grand Vitara and Jimny combined with the load-carrying capacity of Suzuki’s APV light commercial vehicle.

Finally, the Palette is said to combine “emotionally appealing styling cues with a cabin roomy enough for four people … and a level of comfort unprecedented among minicars”.

It also has a utilitarian nature, with power-operated sliding doors on either side of the vehicle and a low, flat floor.

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