When it comes to the sheer number of concept cars from the 1990s and early 2000s, we typically think of ideas from Toyota, Dodge, or General Motors’ numerous brands. After all, these automakers gave us wild show vehicles such as the Dodge Copperhead, the Toyota RSC, and the outlandish Chevrolet Borrego concept. Many others came about, too, and most of them were purely meant to show the automotive world what each respective automaker could do when their engineers were let off-leash.
Smaller automakers were also creating concepts. One such brand was Suzuki, the Japanese marque that has perpetually lived in the wide-reaching shadows of larger carmakers in its home country, such as Toyota or Honda. To differentiate its show car, Suzuki developed an extremely lightweight model that utilized a motorcycle engine. However, this vehicle also needed to be fast, and so Suzuki dreamed up the GSX-R/4 as a hardcore, track-ready model that looked like it was straight out of Star Wars.
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We’ve focused this article on the Suzuki GSX-R/4 due to its extremely agile look. Plus, there’s the fact that the futuristic appearance and use of a motorcycle engine make it quite a compelling model, in our humble opinion.
Two-Wheeled Power In A Four-Wheeled Body
Suzuki GSX-R/4 Key Points
- Introduced in 2001
- Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show
- Took advantage of a 1.3-liter motorcycle engine
- Never intended to go into production
When the turn of the millennium came around, Suzuki was looking for ways to increase the appeal of its automotive division. At the time, the Japanese automaker’s motorcycle division was alive and well and had been going strong for a few decades at that point. The natural next step for Suzuki was to combine the strengths of both its automotive and motorcycle divisions into a single vehicle. Once the plan was made, it was set in motion shortly after.
By 2001, Suzuki’s motorcycle/car combo was ready for its first public appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show. According to various anecdotal reports, the GSX-R/4 was extremely well received by both spectators and the press, with many citing its futuristic looks and promising performance figures as reasons for their praise. The little sports car concept also made its rounds at other auto shows, including the 2002 Los Angeles Auto Show.
However, much to the dismay of its fans, the GSX-R/4 was never intended for production. Instead, it was supposed to show the world what Suzuki was capable of when the company’s development team was able to let its ideas loose. In addition, the GSX-R/4 served as a test bed for future projects that potentially involved a combination of Suzuki’s motorcycle know-how and its automotive division.
How The GSX-R/4 Was Developed
In order to combine both a motorcycle and a four-wheeled car, Suzuki pulled out all the proverbial stops to produce the concept. The engine was from one of Suzuki’s flagship performance motorcycles. On the other side of the coin, the concept took advantage of Suzuki’s extensive knowledge gained over the years in producing small kei cars for the Japanese market, as well as other areas of business that required tiny city vehicles. In other words, the GSX-R/4 was truly a combination of Suzuki’s strengths.
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Detailed Specs & Features
The crux of the Suzuki GSX-R/4 concept’s power comes from a 1.3-liter inline-four motorcycle engine. The mill was from the GSX1300R Hayabusa performance model, which constituted Suzuki’s then-flagship two-wheeled offering and boasted a top speed of approximately 181 mph. The powerplant had an all-aluminum construction and featured tech like a dual-overhead camshaft valvetrain. In the GSX-R/4, Suzuki estimated the car’s max velocity to be about 137 mph.
As for the rest of the concept model, its chassis was an in-house-built aluminum spaceframe, machined in such a way as to keep its curb weight as low as possible. The 1.3-liter engine was rear-mid-mounted for near-perfect weight distribution, and the powerplant attached to a six-speed sequential gearbox. The car also featured the sort of offset suspension seen in Formula One, which could be fully adjusted. Its circle-spoke wheels were also extremely lightweight as a way to offset any weight gain from the model’s run-flat tires.
We lay out all the known specs pertaining to the 2001 Suzuki GSX-R/4 concept in the table below:
|
Engine Details |
1.3L NA inline-four |
|---|---|
|
Horsepower |
173 hp |
|
Torque |
102 lb-ft |
|
0-60 MPH Time |
3.5 seconds (est.) |
|
Top Speed |
137 mph (est.) |
|
Curb Weight |
1,410 lbs |
*Specs courtesy of Suzuki
Features
Despite its tiny stature, the GSX-R/4 concept packed quite a bit of tech and other features into the small, open-topped cabin. For example, a Suzuki-bred GPS navigation system was present, along with a CCD on-board camera, allowing obstacles to be seen on the center-mounted display. It also had what Suzuki coined the “Circuit navigation function”, which helped beginner racers with navigating a select number of circuits around the world. A replay function allowed drivers to review their performance on the track after they were done lapping a circuit. Adjustable drive modes were present, as well.
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Another Notable Suzuki Concept
Seven years after the GSX-R/4 debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Suzuki released another show car that had an impact on the brand. It was called the A-Star concept, and the company aimed the vehicle at buyers looking for something small with economical performance and a high-tech interior. The vehicle premiered at the 2008 New Delhi Auto Expo, after which it went on to the Geneva Motor Show that same year. At the time, the A-Star’s appearance was considered to be extremely futuristic, with many event attendees commenting on the machine’s design.
Regardless, the Suzuki A-Star was still very well-liked. The automaker even considered a production version, unlike the GSX-R/4. The company imagined building it in India and heavily advertising the vehicle as a city car for that market. Power would have come from a 1.0-liter naturally aspirated three-cylinder engine making 68 hp, a humble figure that simply wouldn’t work over here in the United States.
The A-Star was slated to begin production in late 2008, but Suzuki slightly missed its target due to a delay of a few months. The production version of the concept had several monikers, depending on the region, including Alto, Pixo, Celerio, and even A-Star in India. The company retained the concept’s name in India due to the positive reaction at the New Delhi Auto Expo. Once production commenced, the A-Star’s futuristic, conceptual looks were replaced with a much more conservative, easy-to-digest countenance, a phenomenon seen in nearly every concept-to-production model.
While the A-Star and the GSX-R/4 are worlds apart, they both convey a certain futurism that Suzuki was trying to convey back in the 2000s. In our opinion, at least when it came to the brand’s concept cars, Suzuki succeeded.
Sources: Suzuki, Car and Driver
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