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Toyota, Daihatsu and Suzuki team up to unbox some fun-size electric kei vans

The G7 Summit is happening in Hiroshima, Japan, right now and some automakers have taken the opportunity to announce new projects. Toyota, their wholly owned subsidiary Daihatsu, and Suzuki (of which Toyota owns about 5%) made news with a trio of electric micro-vans built to kei car specifications. The battery-electric vans are part of an industry-wide push toward carbon neutrality. Kei-class vehicles, in addition to limited displacement gasoline engines, have strict dimensional restrictions that allow them to navigate the often narrow streets in dense urban areas. They're also privilege to certain tax breaks and parking benefits.  [gallery ids="2474953,2474954"] The engine size rules obviously don't apply to the electric vans, but they will still conform to the size boundaries. Kei vans are often used to solve the "last mile" problem in logistics since they're able to whiz around crowded streets inaccessible by larger commercial vehicles.  Daihatsu, which specializes in kei cars, will build the vans and name their variant the HiJet Cargo. The HiJet name has been a consistent one in the company's lineup since 1960, but these new versions will be front-wheel-drive in contrast to the rear-wheel-drive gasoline variants. Toyota's version will be called the Pixis Van, while Suzuki will be named the Every, a nameplate that's been around since 1982. Aside from the badges the vans appear identical. Range is said to be approximately 200km (124 miles) on a single charge.  The exhibition was held in conjunction with the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, which former Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda heads. Toyoda stepped down from the top position at the company his grandfather founded in April, but still takes a overseer role as Chairman. Toyoda was criticized for being slow to adopt EVs, and new CEO Koji Sato has emphasized the role of battery-electrics moving forward while still taking a multi-front approach to carbon neutrality with hydrogen and hybrids. These vans were likely in development before Toyoda's retirement, though.

Next Suzuki SX4 spotted again

Thanks to a sketch of the Suzuki S-Cross concept, we can already see the styling direction that the next-generation SX4 will take, and Suzuki is still hard at work on the production version of the car as evidenced by this latest batch of spy shots. These photos look almost identical to those captured back in July, but we see a little more detail at the rear of the car and get a better idea of the next SX4's proportions.
With the baggy camouflage lifted up at the rear of this prototype, we can see that the SX4 replacement has a very Mazda-chic look to it with downward-angled taillights that stretch into the liftgate. Aside from this, the big news is that we're finally getting a sense of the new SX4's size. Suzuki's press release attached to the Paris-bound S-Cross sketch said that the SX4 replacement would be growing to the compact segment rather than being a subcompact like the current car. Recent reports indicate that the next version of this car will be sized closer to the Grand Vitara, and in these pictures, you can definitely see how much the car has grown.
Still unknown is when we can expect to see the production version of the new SX4, or what will be inside it (available turbo power?), but hopefully Suzuki will not delay things like it did with the Kizashi and its numerous concepts.

Larger SX4 to lead raft of new or revised Suzuki models

A few weeks ago, we showed you what is likely in store for the next-generation Suzuki SX4, but What Car? now has some insider info of what might be in store for other products in the aging Suzuki lineup... at least in the UK.
When the official design sketch of the Suzuki S-Cross concept was released, Suzuki said that the concept car would be a C-segment crossover, closer in size to the Grand Vitara, and going up against some higher-volume rivals like the Ford Kuga (Escape) and Nissan Qashqai (similar to our Rogue). The Suzuki Grand Vitara is also due for a redesign, and both models will likely be on showroom floors together, with the Grand Vitara acting as the more rugged alternative to the hatchback-like SX4 replacement. Not much is known about the new Grand Vitara, but a new satellite navigation system is expected to debut in the SUV and eventually spread into other Suzuki models.
Suzuki will start selling the new SX4 and Grand Vitara in the United States this fall, and these two new crossovers should be a welcome addition to the company's diminutive U.S. dealer network that has been starved of product since the early 2000s. Automotive News adds a little gloom to this topic by pointing out that, after the introduction of the new SX4 and Grand Vitara this fall, American Suzuki has no new products planned through the 2015 model year. Suzuki dealers in Europe are more fortunate, as a refreshed version of the Jimny (formerly known as the Samurai here in the States) and an all-new Alto will both be joining the lineup.