Suzuki has piqued interest ever since the unveiling of the Kizashi concept back in 2007. After all, it’s not often we see a large car concept from the carmaker, known for it’s rally and motorbike heritage and a history of compact (and very competent) small cars.

The new Kizashi follows some of the flowing lines we were shown with the Kizashi 2 concept, while clearly showing a refinement from the concept to an almost production appearance. Gone are the dazzling paint jobs, 4WD ride height, crossover sports wagon styling, and headlights. Instead version 3 of the Kizashi rides on 21 inch, 9 spoke chrome wheels, sports a new, sharper headlight design, wider split grille, a more muscular front end, and 350z style rear haunches becoming almost a 4 door sports car.

Along with the stunning stylistic update come some juicy details. The new Kizashi will carry a 300HP version of the GM’s new DOHC 24-valve 3.6L V6, come with Suzuki’s advanced i-AWD system mated to a paddle-shifted 6 speed automatic transmission and will comfortably seat 5 persons.

It’s one of the most solid close-to-production concepts we’ve seen and Suzuki claims we will see production of the Kizashi in some form in 2010, with construction planned to be at Suzuki’s new Sagara plant in Japan. Here’s to seeing Suzuki build this, and since we’re wishing, we might as well throw in a wish for the X-HEAD too.

Kizashi 3 Concept:

Popularity: 32% [?]

The Kizashi appeared at Frankfurt not long ago, and hot on it’s heels comes the Kizashi 2, which looks to be either a crossover or soft roader.

�Kizashi 2.0

The car apparently drops the 2.0L 4cyl TDi expected in the Kizashi 1.0. Instead Kizashi 2.0 gets a 3.6L GM V6 and 6 speed automatic, and may or may not be a hybrid vehicle. It’s unknown at this point wether the Kizashi 2.0 would sport the AWD system slated for the Kizashi 1.0 concept.

It’s also unknown why the two disparate vehicle concepts hold the same name in the first place. It may simply be a ‘style name’ rather than actual vehicle name.

[Source:� Caradisiac]

Popularity: 31% [?]