AIMS: More Sport for Suzuki Swift

SUZUKI will stage the Australian debut of its wicked three-door Swift S-Concept hot hatch at this week’s Melbourne motor show, direct from its global premiere at the Geneva show in March.

Providing an accurate preview of the next-generation Swift Sport that will enter production in Japan from November before going on sale in Australia early next year, the S-Concept heralds an aggressive new Swift performance leader that could also become available here in three-door guise for the first time.

The new flagship of the AZ-series Swift five-door range that was released here in February will not wear a GTI badge, but it will drive its front wheels with a larger 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that delivers 100kW – 8kW up on the previous 92kW 1.6-litre Swift Sport and 30kW up on the standard 70kW 1.4-litre Swift.

To be available for the first time with both manual and automatic transmissions – the latter with steering wheel shift paddles – the new Swift Sport should remain faithful to the 60mm-wider S concept, which features heavily flared wheelarches, a lower ride height, firmer springs, red brake callipers and low-profile rubber on 18-inch multi-spoke alloys.

Left: Suzuki Swift S-Concept.

The first three-door version of the Mk4 Swift also features bi-Xenon headlights, a huge black mesh grille, four side air scoops, a huge tailgate spoiler, a large lower diffuser and twin chromed exhaust outlets, while inside there are hip-hugging black leather Recaro sports bucket seats with yellow side bolstering, a carbon-fibre-look centre stack, three-spoke yellow-stitched leather and chrome-clad multi-function steering wheel.

Alongside the bright yellow S-Concept in Melbourne, Suzuki will show a development of the Kizashi Turbo concept from last year’s Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.

The upgraded Kizashi turbo show car was again developed with Californian-based hot tuner Road Race Motorsports, which already offers an aftermarket turbo kit for the Kizashi in the US.

Like the 224kW Kizashi Apex turbo concept revealed at the New York show in April, Melbourne’s RRM-tuned Kizashi turbo concept is designed to gauge customer demand for a factory Kizashi turbo, which Suzuki’s Australian and American subsidiaries are keen to offer.

Last year’s Kizashi Turbo concept featured an intercooled turbo with 7psi of boost that raised the 2.4-litre four’s maximum output to 179kW and 330Nm – up from 131kW and 230Nm on the naturally aspirated version powering the entire range, including the flagship AWD Sport version.