What's the news?
It's not a big car, but the big news on the Suzuki stand at the Tokyo Motor Show will be a new Ignis. The compact crossover model, which has been out of production for some years, is being revived by Suzuki, and it's basically the recent iM-4 concept in production form. There aren't any technical details yet, nor an on-sale date, but there will also be an Ignis Trail Concept in Tokyo that adds bigger wheels, plastic bash panels and a more off-roader-y air to the car. Looks chunky and cool, if you ask us.
Alongside the new Ignis, there will also be the new Baleno (which we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show) - a small hatch, slightly larger than the current Swift, which will go on sale next summer. It includes a new 1.0-litre direct injection turbocharged petrol engine and a 1.2-litre petrol option with an integrated mild hybrid system. It's not the best looking car anyone's ever built, but we bet it'll be practical and reliable.
As well as those three, there'll be two mildly insane concept cars, which, along with the Ignis and Baleno, are kicking off a 'Next 100' programme for Suzuki as it looks forward to celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020. The 'Mighty Deck' (we loooooove the name) is a tiny urban run-around with city car dimensions, but an open pickup-style load bed at the back. Suzuki says that it includes "features that free people to move between contrasting situations and mind sets: city and nature; home and away; work and leisure or relaxed and playful." Sounds draughty to us...
There's also the Air Triser concept - a pug-faced mini-MPV with three rows of seats that can be configured into a comfortable u-shaped couch when you're stopped. One of the B-pillars is also a giant touch-screen tablet display on the inside. It's a bizarre looking thing - a cross between a cardboard box and a concrete bunker, so don't expect any production version to come to this side of the world.