Would you trade-in your Toyota LandCruiser for a Suzuki Fronx?

Toyota LandCruiser look out, the Suzuki Fronx is coming for you!

Yep, the freshly-launched Indian-built mini-crossover is casting a wide net for buyers and that includes empty-nesters stepping out of their iconic Toyota 4x4s.

In fact, Suzuki Australia is forecasting the Fronx – which is priced from $28,990 plus on-road costs – will quickly establish itself as its second-most popular model behind the Jimny pocket 4x4.

And Suzuki Australia general manager automotive Michael Pachota conceded even the Jimny could get within Fronx’s reach.

“Jimmy’s pretty strong, but it [Fronx] could possibly outsell Jimmy,” he conceded.

“I almost think we’ve underestimated this thing [Fronx],” he continued.

“We were talking about maybe having 200 to 250 sales per month. We’re probably going to double that, 450 to 500, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s up from there.

“Every other country that it’s gone to, everyone said that they underestimated its opportunity.”

The Jimny averages more than 700 sales per month in Australia, while the Swift city car is currently number two at about 325 units per month.

Pachota confirmed Suzuki Australia will attempt to stir-up added interest from September with a drive-away pricing campaign expected to pitch the Fronx at $29,990 on the road.

Even so it’s still not the cheapest light SUV on offer, with the Indian Mahindra XUV3X0 and Chinese Chery Tiggo 4 undercutting it to start around $24,000 drive-away.

But instead of cutting prices to the bone, Suzuki has loaded heaps of gear into the 4.0-metre-long 1.5-litre mild hybrid, including heated leather-accented seats, a head-up display and autonomous driving tech.

Pachota is convinced that combination of price, size and equipment is where the Fronx’s appeal to downsizers and many other new car buyers will come from.

“It’s just going to fit right there, smack bang in the middle of the sweet spot,” he said.

“Empty nesters coming out of a LandCruiser, people coming out of the Corolla sideways, people coming up from the light car segment.

“People are looking at small SUVs and going, ‘you know what. this is actually a little bit too big for me’. And seeing the Fronx and going, ‘Oh, my God, it’s perfect’.

“It’s going to sit in that light SUV segment. So you’ve got the [Kia] Stonic, [Mazda] CX-3, [Hyundai] Venue – I think those are going to be some of the key competitors.

“I think there’s going to be small SUVs like the Tiggo 4 that are going to come up against it, and it’s going to surprise people.”

Pachota confirmed Suzuki’s Indian manufacturing plants would be able to cope with extra demand if the Fronx does indeed catch on and become a bigger hit than expected; not something that can be said for a lot of other models.

“The beautiful thing about getting cars out of our Indian production plants is the capacity is very good because of the state of the art, newest tech plants that can decrease or increase capacity at the drop of a hat,” he said.

“Their plants are huge, very advanced. The robotics in there are state of the art and so I don’t see any issues with capacity around Fronx.

“In the last 13 months they’ve sold 229,000 of them, so the sales are increasing everywhere they land and launch.”

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