Suzuki’s Paris show centrepiece, the S-Cross mid-sized crossover concept, is officially described as a study to showcase the design direction the company will take in future.
Scratch beneath the surface, however, and it is pretty clear that Suzuki plans to build something similar starting some time next year.
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S-Cross is built on a new, in-house-designed, C-segment platform and insiders are already saying they expect a production version to – possibly – be shown at Frankfurt in a year and go into production at the company’s Hungarian plant. Though primarily aimed at Europeans, S-Cross would be a global car, replacing the current SX4 shared with Fiat.
There will nonetheless still be a 1.6-litre Fiat turbodiesel engine option plus an unspecified petrol alternative and both two- and four-wheel drive variants. There are no clues as to the name, but SX4 is a possibile carry-over.
Suzuki is currently on a high in the UK because of the downsizing trend, with sales up 22% year on year so far in 2012, putting the company on course for a full year total of 25,000. Almost half of sales are of the Hungarian-made Swift, with the (Indian) Alto and (Hungarian) Splash also doing well.
