Suzuki has revealed a pair of retro-styled concept cars that will debut at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. The Japanese manufacturer celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020, and intends to use the event to preview future products for its second centenary.
The first concept car is a two-door, plug-in hybrid coupe, called the Waku SPO. It draws design inspiration from the 1967 Suzuki Fronte 360, sharing that car’s long nose, stubby tail and glasshouse. It also features a stylised version of the Fronte’s radiator grille and a pair of rear-view cameras, mounted in the same position as the Fronte’s wing-mirrors.
• The world’s greatest concept cars
Suzuki says the Waku SPO concept has been designed to offer families “fun and excitement across generations, for daily use as well as for pleasure.” It’s an A-segment vehicle, meaning it should have comparable dimensions to the compact Honda e.
The Japanese firm’s second Tokyo concept is an “autonomous mobile room,” called the Hanare (which translates as “a detached cottage” in Japanese). It also takes design inspiration from the brand’s back-catalogue, chief of which is the fourth-generation Suzuki Carry kei truck that was built between 1969 and 1972.
Suzuki’s fourth-generation Carry was designed by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro – and this modern interpretation shares that car’s styling, black radiator grille and sharply divided waistline. Suzuki says the Hanare “proposes the fun and excitement of a car besides driving.”
Due to the amount of testing required before an autonomous vehicle can be legally road registered, it’s unlikely that the Suzuki Hanare concept will go into production any time soon. However, the recent boom in popularity for retro-styled cars (such as the Honda e and Suzuki Jimny) means there could be a market for the Waku SPO.
What do you make of Suzuki’s latest concept cars? Let us know in the comments section below…