Sedan Version of Suzuki SX4 Launched in China

The sedan body style is important in the subcompact car segment. It’snot big in Europe where hatchbacks are the primary entry-level choice, but many buyers around the world prefer the three-box design. These markets include South America, Africa, Australia, China, and to some extent North America. Toyota has its Yaris Sedan, and Kia, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Nissan all offer sedan versions of their respective B-segment vehicles. So while Honda doesn’t have any plans to offer a four-door Fit in these parts, one of its small car competitors does. Suzuki is slated to introduce a sedan version of its SX4 crossover very soon, and it should be quite the rival to its subcompact competitors.

Suzuki launched its SX4 with a trunk late last year in China, where it’s called the SX4 Tianyu. The sedan version has yet to be named for North America, but there’s a good possibility it will carry forward with the same name globally, so for the sake of names in this article, SX4 Tianyu is what we’re going to call it. This particular car isassembled by Suzuki’s Chinese partner, Changan. From the front doors forward, the SX4 Sedan is identical to the SX4 hatchback. The car has curved C-pillars, a high trunk lid and an extended rear overhang to maximize trunk volume.

This model will fill the gap left by the Aerio sedan when it finishes production next year. So far, we don’t know what kind of power the SX4 Sedan will have, but it’s logical to think that it’ll use the same powertrain as the hatchback model, meaning a 143 horsepower 2.0-liter inline-four plus a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. Whether or not Suzuki will fit the iAWD system to this version of the SX4 is another unknown; in the hatchback it is a class exclusive.

As with the European market, the Chinese market doesn’t view small cars as just basic transportation. Inside, Suzuki has tried to make this sedan model more luxurious by giving it an improved interior ambience and features that aren’t expected on a small car (at least in North America). While our SX4 hatchback gets a charcoal and black interior scheme, the SX4 Sedan is available with a tan interior and leather-trimmed seats. Other high-end features that the SX4 has in these pictures include rear parking sensors and an intelligent key. The interior also features amber colored instruments, as opposed to the North American and European market SX4s which have red dials. Also on the sedan, the rear seatbacks do not tumble for additional cargo-carrying capacity, they merely fold.

Suzuki has not said when the SX4 Sedan will be arriving in North America, but we suspect that its debut here will be some time during the next couple of months at a major auto show, such as New York.