Production version of Suzuki’s iV-4 SUV will make its global debut in October at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. The SUV will be positioned between Suzuki Jimny and Suzuki Grand Vitara. Suzuki eyes unexplored automotive markets like Australia where iV-4 will go on sale during mid-2015. The company had displayed iV-4 prototype last November at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. Suzuki will commence manufacturing iV-4 SUV at its Hungarian plant effective early 2015.
Company has confirmed that iV-4 will be a light weight vehicle, will emit low amount of CO2 and it will equipped with next-generation Allgrip four-wheel-drive system. Mechanical details have still been kept under the wraps along with other technical specifications. Suzuki has yet not revealed the name of the SUV by which it will be sold in the market. However, SUV’s dimensions have been revealed by the company, iV-4 will be 4.21 m long, 1.85 m wide and 1.66 tall.
Suzuki will also launch the SUV in European market where it will compete with the likes of Nissan Juke, Fiat 500X and Peugeot 2008. Maruti Suzuki is also developing a crossover under the codename XA-Alpha which is touted to be a part of domestic market. Concept version of the crossover was displayed at the 2012 Auto Expo held in New Delhi. Based on the modified Ertiga platform, XA-Alpha will be smaller than iV-4, it is a highly awaited vehicle in India. Speculations were rife that MSI could launch XA-Alpha in India in the first quarter of 2014, however it did not happen. A hypothetical price ranging between Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh is being speculated for the crossover. Other popular compact SUVs like Duster and EcoSport were also revealed at the 2012 Auto Expo along with XA-Alpha Concept out of which Duster and EcoSport have been launched but XA-Alpha launch is still uncertain.
