Suzuki's future: compact, smaller, light, minimal and beautiful

Suzuki presents its new ten-year plan, based on reducing emissions and, above all, on ever-lower weights.

Suzuki EVX Concept

By: Massimo Grassi

Published by: Brian Potter

Jul 18, 2024 at 7:19am ET

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Reducing energy consumption. That's how Suzuki's new business plan could be summed up in a few words - very few words. Simple, straightforward. But between saying it and doing it, there is a sea of complications, technological research, investment and challenges.

The Japanese manufacturer's starting point is the 'Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi' approach - compact, smaller, light, minimalist, beautiful. The result will be electric cars with compact, efficient powertrains and small, lightweight batteries.

Circular

Adopting a circular economy will be essential to achieving this goal. "In the traditional economic system, known as the linear economy, the flow of raw material extraction, production, product use and disposal is unidirectional. This leads to high energy consumption, the depletion of resources and the destruction of the environment", stresses the Japanese manufacturer.

Suzuki EVX Concept

"In the coming years, Suzuki will strive to minimise energy consumption by adopting the circular economy. This approach aims to reduce overall resource consumption by designing products that can be easily disassembled to encourage recycling and reuse of materials."

Suzuki's aim is to follow the example of other manufacturers such as Renault, for whom recycling is becoming increasingly important in terms of savings and image. After all, it's not enough to produce electric cars to be sustainable.

Suzuki ten-year plan

Lightweight

Suzuki has long focused on weight reduction, and the arrival of electric cars will not change this approach. The ambition is to continue saving kilo after kilo, even though battery-powered cars are not known for having particularly low masses.

As mentioned, the project envisages compact, efficient powertrains with small, lightweight batteries. It's an approach similar to Mazda's MX-30, but one that, thanks to research and increased energy densities, could guarantee long ranges.

Software

Another area in which Suzuki will be active is that of Software Defined Vehicles. These are cars, and not only cars, where the programming aspect plays a key role, with simple and effective updates. All under the banner of "Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi".

In order to cut costs, as is now the case in all automotive groups, the hardware will be shared between the different models to reduce expenditure, while the software will characterise them.

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