Suzuki launches new Xbee compact crossover wagon in Japan

Suzuki Motor Corporation celebrated Christmas with the launch of the new Xbee (cross-bee) in Japan. The Xbee is a compact crossover wagon of a whole new genre, fused with spacious cabin of a wagon and the fun of an SUV.

The new Xbee, which has a spacious cabin and user-friendliness of a wagon, strong driving performance on rough roads, and the practicality of an SUV aimed at meeting a wide range of lifestyles from city riding to leisure activities such as outdoors and sports.

The all-new Xbee adopts the Suzuki Safety Support, Suzuki’s preventive safety technology which supports driving safely and confidently. It comes with Dual Sensor Brake Support (DSBS) collision-mitigating system and the Back-up Brake Support collision-mitigating system for backing-up, which is installed for the first time on Suzuki’s compact car.

The Xbee is also installed with functions that support safety driving including a 3D View that lets the driver see the vehicle’s 360-deg surroundings in three-dimensional view. The new Xbee qualifies for Japan’s Sapo Car S Wide of the Safety Support Car (Sapo Car).

Sapo Car means vehicles equipped with certain driving support functions such as advanced safety technologies including autonomous braking. The Sapo Car S category is one of the categories of the Safety Support Car which includes vehicles equipped with additional safety features that help prevent misuse of accelerator and brake pedals, which is recommended especially for elderly drivers.

Sapo Car S Wide is one of the sub-categories of Sapo Car S category which includes vehicles equipped with autonomous braking (for pedestrians), system that helps prevent misuse of accelerator and brake pedals, lane departure warning, and advanced headlights.

The Xbee adopts Suzuki’s Heartect light and rigid new-generation platform. All variants are powered by a 1.0-litre direct-injection turbo engine and mild hybrid system mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, it strikes a balance between driving performance with plenty of power and excellent fuel efficiency. The 4WD variant gets two new driving modes: Sport mode and Snow mode that suppresses spinning of tyres in starting and accelerating on snow and icy roads. The 4WD variant also comes with Grip Control that supports starting on muddy and slippery roads; and Hill Descent Control that maintains vehicle speed at 7kph when descending on steep downhill.