Suzuki Australia interested in $20,000 hybrid kei car

Suzuki Australia has expressed its interest in releasing a kei micro-car locally with a hybrid powertrain and pricing targeted under $20,000.

While the prospect of Suzuki kei cars actually being on sale in Australia is still years away, the local outpost has been surveyed within recent months by headquarters in Japan about global opportunities for its product portfolio.

“I put my hand up so high [for kei cars] it wasn’t funny,” said Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pachota. “I love kei cars.

“I’d like to have them here within five years. I can think of five models that can fit straight into our market.

Kei cars are a Japanese domestic market model that can be no longer than 3.4m long, 1.48m wide, 2.0m tall and have a powertrain output limited to 47kW.

In congested Japanese cities they are immensely popular, but several attempts to launch them in Australia – including the Suzuki Wagon R in the 1990s – have failed.

But kei cars recently came back under the local spotlight thanks to Mitsubishi Australia importing the Mitsubishi ek X EV as it investigates its suitability for local roads.

Suzuki is a big kei car player in Japan with four of the top 10 sales models in 2021.

Pachota said the Alto or the more stylish Hustler would be the kei car he would like to sell in Australia.

“The Alto … based on its price point in Japan is about $9500 in Australia,” he said. “Now you build that car with the right requirements for the Australian market in terms of safety and meeting Australian Design Rules then that car is sub-$20,000.

“I reckon there’s a market for that. I reckon that would be a good seller.

“Out of all of them [Suzuki kei cars] I see that one [Alto] would be the volume seller. That or the Hustler.”

The ninth-generation Suzuki Alto is a five-door hatchback that went on sale in Japan in 2021 with a three-cylinder petrol engine, including a mild-hybrid version.

It is not the same Alto as the Indian-built mini that sold in Australia from 2009 to 2015.

However, an antecedent of the Japanese Alto sold in Australia in the 1980s as a two-seat commercial vehicle.

The Hustler, which is intended to evoke a crossover, is also sold as both a mild-hybrid and regular ICE in Japan. In Australia, the Suzuki Hustler name is more commonly associated with a two-stroke motorbike from 1960s-70s.

Pachota’s theoretical pricing for a hybrid Alto places it well under the $30,000 estimate Mitsubishi has ventured for the electric ek X.

And that’s intentional because he sees a lot more sales volume for a mild-hybrid kei car at $20,000 than an EV at $30,000.

A mild-hybrid Suzuki kei car would also tie in with the brand’s local plan to migrate almost its whole range to petrol-electric assistance, starting with the Suzuki Swift that went on sale last week.

The brand will launch its first battery-electric vehicle – based on the Suzuki eVX SUV concept – in Australia in 2025.

But Pachota made it clear it will be a low-selling flagship.

He is convinced hybrid is where the bulk of the sales action will lie in the Australian market going forward.

“[Suzuki Australia’s] journey moving forward is electrified. That’s not full EV, that is a hybrid journey and I see hybrid being 60 per cent of Australian car sales over the next eight years,” he said.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au