We still have to wait a bit for Suzuki’s first electric car, but now it will at least be shown to the public. (Photos: Suzuki)
Measured in pure car sales, Suzuki is one of the very largest Japanese brands at home, but so far they have not received any traction from electric cars. Now, however, the first is approaching.
You can of course wonder which brands sell the most new cars in Japan, the Asian car hub.
There is quite a formidable battle for customers there, and according to JADA (Japan Automobile Dealers Association) there are 11 major domestic car brands. And then we don’t even find Lexus on the list, so we reckon they have baked this brand into the parent brand Toyota.
Not surprisingly, it is precisely Toyota that leads the way when it comes to new car sales in Japan, but perhaps a little surprisingly for us Norwegians, it is actually Suzuki that follows closest. And yes, Daihatsu in 3rd place.
Well-known names such as Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru and Mitsubishi all had to see themselves beaten by that trio in 2022, but the consolation is that all of these beat all foreign car brands. Mercedes came first in 9th place, while Volkswagen, which sold the second most of the foreign car brands, was all the way down in 13th place.
Little Suzuki is not so small after all, but they have ended up on the rear wheels here in Europe. Because here we are increasingly focusing on electric cars, and Suzuki does not have such in place – yet.
Because there is one in the works that will be shown during the Tokyo Mobility Show later in the month, and more correctly – they actually have two electric cars in the works.
As we entered 2023, Suzuki could fire off a belated New Year’s rocket, because a little earlier in January they showed off a brand new SUV concept called eVX. Yes, the name really explains most of it. EV as in Electric Vehicle, i.e. electric car, and X as in four-wheel drive and slightly more off-road focused. Perhaps not very surprising, because this is a Suzuki after all.
The concept, which will therefore become a production car, is slightly larger than today’s Suzuki Vitara and measures 4.30 meters in length, 1.80 meters in width and 1.60 meters in height. A Vitara measures 4.18 meters in length.
And just so people can be absolutely sure that this has four-wheel drive, the concept is called the Suzuki eVX 4×4, and it is expected that it will go into series production in 2025. When it will eventually come to Norway is not known, but we guess Suzuki is working hard with getting it over to Europe as quickly as possible.
As you can see from the pictures to come, Suzuki has given the car a sporty touch, and that is probably also due to the range. Because the more aerodynamic the electric cars are, the better the range they get.
What the range will be is of course far too early to say, but the concept shown in January was equipped with a 60 kWh battery, and it opened up a range of 550 kilometers after the Indian driving cycle called MIDC.
This is what the Suzuki eVX concept looks like:
But Suzuki has more in store when it comes to the electric venture that they are now embarking on. And the second electric car is, in any case, even more fun in terms of appearance.
Because here we are talking about a so-called kei car, these small city cars that Japan was known for in the good old days. More precisely, the EWX, as the concept is called, measures 3.39 meters in length, 1.47 meters in width and 1.62 meters in height. By comparison, Suzuki’s smallest car here in Europe, the Swift, measures all 3.84 meters in length.
This will be an urban and practical electric car that will not hold back when it comes to equipment, and like the SUV concept will also go to Europe. Suzuki does not say how far away this is.
With two electric cars in the works, things suddenly look much brighter for Suzuki Norway, and the importer RSA has even more good news.
– We know many have waited a long time for electric models from Suzuki, and the factory has taken its time to develop quality-assured models, says Lars Havre, sales manager at Suzuki Norway.
‒ In addition to the models above, Suzuki is working on several electric cars, and by 2030 Suzuki will launch a number of electric models. We look forward to offering Norwegian customers electric four-wheel drive vehicles from Suzuki.
RSA will surely have more news when the big fair starts, because they themselves set course for the Japanese capital with a small delegation led by CEO Frank Dunvold.
In the meantime, check out a few more images of the concept that will become the Suzuki eVX 4×4:
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2023-10-05 05:00:00
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