Unibodies For All?

Suzuki Motor Corp. is cranking up prototypes of the all-new compact cross/utility vehicle due next year that will replace the Grand Vitara and discontinued Vitara SUVs.

While the old Vitara and Grand Vitara were body-on-frame SUVs, the replacement is a rear-wheel-drive CUV with unibody construction, Odeon Dy, American Suzuki Motor Corp. product planning manager tells Ward's.

The new RWD platform has produced a prototype and is slated to go into production next year as an '06 model. It will be powered by a 2.7L V-6 engine.

The current Grand Vitara is assembled in Hamamatsu, Japan, and the successor also will be built in Japan, Dy says. The new platform has flexibility to do more than just the small CUV, raising speculation as to the possibility of other RWD vehicles for Suzuki.

While Dy does not comment on future plans, he says the underlying assumption behind the new platform is its ability to yield a number of future models. “Otherwise it doesn't make economic sense.”

Dy says Suzuki is not interested in GM's midsize SUV platform (Chevy TrailBlazer and family), but it wants a unibody CUV in this size as well.

The CUVs are part of Suzuki's 357 plan to triple sales in North America in the five years between 2003 and 2007, mainly by adding five new vehicles. It is part of a larger plan, unveiled in 2003, to add nine new products over five years.