SPY PICS: Updates for Suzuki Vitara

With no sign of a replacement for Suzuki's largest SUV — the Grand Vitara — on the horizon, the Vitara could soon become the Japanese brand's flagship SUV.

But as these spy photos of a facelifted Suzuki Vitara SUV captured here suggest, there will be little to externally identify what will looks like being a mild mid-life refresh for the small SUV.

This has led to speculation the update will mainly be concentrated on improved equipment levels, with maybe a little attention given to some of the interior details.

However, a long-standing standoff by Suzuki on advanced safety technologies makes for interesting speculation.

Although autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is optional on the latest-generation Suzuki Swift, the company has so far avoided offering anti-crash systems as standard on any of its models.

According to Suzuki Australia's former car chief, Andrew Moore, buyers at the lower end of the market are reluctant to pay extra for safety systems such as AEB, which is why it is optional (as part of a safety pack) on the GL Navigator version of the new Swift.

Intriguingly though, a closer look at the spy photos suggests there could be a devil in the details: A small aperture built into the front bumper assembly could well be a receptacle for a proximity sensor which is an essential part of an AEB system. Could the Vitara be about to join the Swift in making AEB at least optional?

Given that competitors such as Mazda are embracing AEB - and other safety tech - as standard any various models (and that a five-star ANCAP rating will be difficult to achieve from this year without AEB), could it be that Suzuki is about to yield to peer pressure?

We will know more when the updated Vitara makes its expected appearance later in the year.

Far less important, but a small possibility nonetheless, is that the Vitara could adopt a version of the toothy new front-end adopted by the Suzuki S-Cross at the beginning of 2017.

Otherwise, it's expected there will be no significant changes in the Vitara's driveline arrangements - front, or all-wheel drive, petrol, turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel engines, manual or auto transmissions - for the update.

The Vitara is a Suzuki stalwart as the company's second-best seller behind the Swift hatch, and ahead of the Baleno, Ignis, Grand Vitara, S-Cross, APV, Celerio and Jimny.

However, at 5805 sales for 2017, it sits at eighth on the small SUV sales ladder behind small SUV segment giants such as the Mitsubishi ASX (19,403 sales in 2017), Mazda CX-3 (17,490), Nissan QASHQAI (13,495), Honda HR-V (11,843) and Subaru XV (10,161).