Did Suzuki invent the ‘lifestyle’ SUV?
The Vitara was a trendy SUV years before anybody had heard of a Toyota RAV4
Let’s get off on the right note by saying that Suzuki definitely did not invent the “crossover SUV” as we know it today. Toyota generally gets the credit for combining 4x4 styling/ packaging with a road-car platform in the Toyota RAV4 threedoor (1994), with a little help mainstreaming the concept from Honda (CR-V five-door, also 1994).
But making a small-medium SUV truly trendy? That’s got to be down to the Suzuki Vitara, which was wowing image-conscious urbanites way back in 1988.
For most of its career the Vitara has been a traditional, hard-core
4x4: ladder-frame chassis, lowrange gearbox, go-anywhere capability. Not bad on-road either, but far from crossover-slick.
But that didn’t stop the firstgeneration model becoming the darling of trendy city drivers, thanks to its combination of compact size, perky styling and (especially) a soft-top version. Not to mention choice 1980s decals.
The Vitara’s lifestyle-cred simply built from there, albeit with a generous garnish of “hairdresser’s car” jokes.
A five-door came along in 1990 and in 1994 (just as Toyota and Honda were getting the hang of this trendy SUV thing) it gained a V6 engine option. We also can’t let the first-gen Vitara pass without mention of the now-ironicallyiconic Vitara-based X-90 coupe/ targa-style convertible.
From the second generation (1997) it became the Grand Vitara, fully embracing the growing global popularity of family SUVs – but retaining that rock-hopping
4x4 ability. It even briefly grew into a long, yet still strangely narrow, seven-seater called XL-7.
The third-gen (2005) did make some concession to the crossover generation by combining elements of monocoque construction (like a road car) with an integrated ladder frame for better ride and handling.
We can pretty much draw a line under that generation, because Vitara version four (2015) downsized and evolved into a full crossover, with cheeky styling and unibody construction. And of course the Vitara platform is also now shared with Suzuki's even more mainstream SX4 S-Cross.
So the current Vitara represents a complete change for the model in some respects. But it’s also circled back to where it started.