Suzuki SX4t, a surprisingly bold bet for the United States

Exoticism as an excuse and sportiness as the key? One thing is clear: the American market is changing, and it is adopting tastes and habits that are not only unusual but illogical in many cases.

Compact cars — well, what the heck — any small car has never been an appealing option for the American consumer, whatever its merits. In recent years this has been changing, and Japanese or European variety and habits have been slipping in through the back door without making much noise… just to see what would happen.

One can understand that the Fiat 500, the Mini, the Smart… even the Beetle dared to do it in its day, but they all smile at the Yankees with the argument of “I’m chic“. Anyone can do that… well, with that long digression out of the way, it’s relevant because of the bet made by Road Race Motorsports, which is creating a turbo version of what is apparently a successful model at the moment: the Suzuki SX4.

For this compact, somewhere between Italy and Japan and with not very notable success around here, for 6,500 dollars (about 4,150 euros for those on the other side of the pond) this company installs a turbo in the SX4’s 2.0 engine that gives it 221 horsepower and allows it to go from 0 to 100 in under 7 seconds.

So that the customer doesn’t create indifference in their community, the car is also given aesthetic elements such as that dark bonnet (carbon fiber?) and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Frankly, I didn’t expect this… it’s true that the price of gallons is starting to squeeze wallets.

Via | Motorpasión