click image for hi-res gallery of the Suzuki Palette
Suzuki makes and sells a whole lot of kei-class tall wagons in Japan, thanks to the ever-popular Wagon R and all the variants it has produced. The latest micro-minivan to hit the market is the Palette, which the automaker first showed at last year's Tokyo Motor Show. On sale January 30, the Palette is a tall-roofed four-passenger minivan whose key features are dual sliders (with power available on one or both sides, depending on trim level) and its low, flat load floor. Practicality is king with cars like this, but for buyers interested in having added niceties, the list of standard and available features include keyless entry and start, HID headlamps, different stereo options, and trim-grade-specific exterior styling elements. All are typical of Suzuki's kei car offerings, as are the availability of NA or turbocharged engines, manual and automatic gearboxes, and a choice of 2WD or 4WD. Suzuki doesn't mention power outputs for the engines, but assuming the Palette is to be a kei car, the maximum allowable is 64 hp, which you'd get from the turbo. Chalk up another nifty little city car for Suzuki.
[Source: Suzuki]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jim @ Jan 24th 2008 3:56PM
Looks like a pregnant guppy
Menice @ Jan 24th 2008 4:16PM
best thing i heard all day.
Hank @ Jan 24th 2008 4:01PM
I wonder if US DOT should also create a special 'K-car' category, in the interest of increasing fuel economy on a national scale. Think that'll be a good idea?
Guenther @ Jan 24th 2008 4:09PM
Wow- talk about 4 totally polar posts- first the obscene Porsche Turbo, then the tiny electric utility, then the Ueberwagon, followed by a rolling phone booth from Suzuki.
All jokes aside- it looks like a dandy city car. If only it ran on positive thoughts, it'd be the perfect ride in Ann Arbor.
Menice @ Jan 24th 2008 4:17PM
nip one curb and that suckers going over.
Mke @ Jan 24th 2008 6:00PM
LOL
I don't think it's top heavy though. It looks like the roof is made of very lightweight materials.
I wish this came from a bigger company, though. It looks like a lot of fun for a trip into the city with the family.
ChrisL @ Jan 24th 2008 4:18PM
There are plenty of us that like small efficient cars and could realistically live with kei-class sized vehicles. I considered a Smart, until I experienced that herky-jerky craptastic transmission, now I'm looking for something else...like a kei-class car.
We're seeing a few 15 year old used japanese market cars up here in the Great White North brought in by Japanoid importers, and there is a wait list for some models... BUT APPARENTLY THERE IS NO MARKET (???)
Suzuki would be smart to import a few new ones to Canada like Smart did a few years ago as, they may be surprised at the interest.
cody @ Jan 24th 2008 4:18PM
I would buy a Kei
mehugtree @ Jan 24th 2008 4:30PM
love it. Toyota: rebadge it and bring us back the real xB!
calebe @ Jan 24th 2008 4:31PM
kinda like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mFoQtpsVQA
tankd0g @ Jan 24th 2008 5:13PM
Soon these Japanese cubes are going to go past 90 degrees with their angles and be flared out at the top.
mr.ed @ Jan 24th 2008 5:15PM
By the time you add A/C, real bumpers and other safety equipment for the US market, this would need a hundred horses or more, torpedoing the high gas mileage. Besides, this design isn't nearly weird enough. Most of the other kei's are way past cute, venturing into bizarre.
psarhjinian @ Jan 24th 2008 5:31PM
One point about keijidosha cars is that there's a ~600cc limit on displacement. I think there's a horsepower limit, too, but there's not much you can wring out of 600cc so it's kind of moot.
I'll give that perhaps North Americans are more willing to drive smaller cars then they have been in the past, but kei cars are _really slow_. We're not talking Yaris slow (~10sec) or even Smart TDI slow (~18sec) but 0-60-in-under-an-hour slow. I still like them in concept and they'd be fine for urban use, but I have serious trouble seeing one here outside of the JDM importer crowd.
Bryan @ Jan 24th 2008 7:23PM
As someone who actually lives and drives in Japan, kei cars are a blight which need to be eradicated from the earth. Nothing is more annoying than a line of cars moving 10kph under the speed limit because a kei car is having trouble getting up a hill.
DIRETTORE @ Jan 24th 2008 8:25PM
SAABotage - Ducati gets over > 200 HP/L!
So it could be possible to get 120 HP outta this thing.
As long as it can pass Swedens Moose Avoidance Test with flying colors + Crash Tests, I think its great!
Asim Bhageria @ Mar 8th 2008 1:35PM
To Osamu Suzuki, Suzuki Motor Corp. CEO
I am Asim Bhageria from Bombay India. I am physically handicapped. All my life I have driven Maruti cars. My first car was a 800 modified by Maruti for me in 1992. Then in 2002 I upgraded to Zen again modified by Maruti for my handicap. Now I wish to upgrade to the SX4. But sadly Maruti doesn’t modify the SX4 for the physically handicapped. I even wrote a letter to Mr. Jagdish Kattar in this regard ,but didn’t get any response.
Is it possible that Maruti cannot fit the SX4 with an automatic transmission.
The modifications I want are an automatic transmission with the brake & accelerator controls in the hand as my legs are weak.
Asim Bhageria
725, Pragraj Gully
M.J.Market
Bombay
9820752553