There has been zero secret surrounding the next Suzuki Swift Sport as soon as there was news that the small, nimble hatch would return in 2016 as an all-new model. It is inevitable.
But what remained unknown was exactly how they’d move the game forward over the one it’s replacing, widely touted to be something of gem - like a tiny front-driven Toyota 86, basic, playful, featherweight, straightforward.
The new Swift Sport, based on the 4th-generation Swift with its new lightened, and more rigid HEARTECT platform and broader selection of engines, does have a lot to live up to but Suzuki has arguably a deeper well of resources at hand from which to conceive it.
We also know, pretty much, how the car will look. And to be honest, the first picture the Japanese automaker released to build hype toward its planned debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September wasn’t all that encouraging. Sure, the car looked angrier (as it should), but it didn’t balance that kind of deft edginess with a certain self-aware elegance that its predecessor managed.
Having said that, it was the first picture, and perhaps the car’s look needed time to marinate to bring its full expression. With these new pictures, frustratingly, we still do not get a clear view of the car’s rear end and instead are given a clearer view of the dual exhausts and an additional angle by which to analyse the front end over the leaked pictures from last week.
But, to be honest, we don’t really care as, first of all, your guess would likely be as good as ours as to what a sportier take on the standard Swift’s bum look like. The new batch of preview shots instead reveal - quite thoroughly, too - the Swift Sport’s interior.
As expected, there’s a lot of red on black, as the accent colour is weaved along trim pieces found on the dashboard, door, transmission tunnel, gear lever surround, flat-band instrument cluster. There’s also better look at the singe-piece bucket seats with red contrast stitching, integrated airbag, and the word ‘Sport’ emblazoned beneath the headrest.
The multi-function display is looks rather high resolution and flanked by a pair of very red dials for the tachometer and speedometer. In the photo, it’s displaying how much boost the turbocharger is supplying to the combustion chamber, which is a nice Nissan GT-R-like touch. We still do not know what engine it’s referring to, but rumours have peg it to be a 1.4-litre BoosterJet four-cylinder that should be good for around 110kW and 240Nm - plenty of grunt for the sub-1,000kg hatch.
Given we already know this much about the Swift Sport within a week of the first teaser being outed, surely there will not be much left to speculate about come the official unveil in Germany. Hopefully.
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