Suzuki Wagon R
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Suzuki Wagon R | |
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| Also called: | Opel Agila Suzuki Karimun |
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| Manufacturer: | Suzuki |
| Class: | Kei car, Supermini |
| Related: | Changhe-Suzuki Beidouxing Changhe-Suzuki F-MPV |
The Suzuki Wagon R is a small hatchback car, first introduced as a kei car in Japan in 1993. The R stands for recreation. It is one of the first cars to use the "tall wagon" design in which the car is designed to be unusually tall with a short bonnet and almost vertical hatchback and sides in order to maximise cabin space while staying within the kei car dimension restrictions. The first generation Wagon R is 1640 mm high - 255 mm taller (170 mm internally) than the JDM Suzuki Alto sold at the same time (which was the exact same length and width).
The Wagon R Wide was introduced in 1997 this is a slightly larger car, exceeding the kei car specifications, with larger 1.0 and 1.3 litre engines - this is what was sold as the "Wagon R" in European market (also introduced in the same year). The only other tall wagon style car sold in Europe around the time of its introduction was the Daihatsu Move.
1998 saw the introduction of the second-generation Wagon R in Japan, with the Wagon R+ replacing the Wagon R Wide in 1999 - this was brought to Europe in 2000, now sharing the "Wagon R+" name with the Japanese version. This is also produced in Esztergom in Hungary and Gurgaon, India. The Opel Agila is a badge engineered version of the Suzuki Wagon R+, also introduced in summer 2000.
A third generation Wagon R was launched in Japan in September 2003, but only as a K-car - no oversized version (like the previous Wide and +) was developed.
The Hungarian-built Wagon R+ is still being produced for the European market, albeit with limited range and availability (it is no longer for sale in Ireland, for example). As of 2006 in the UK, only one model is available - the GL, with a 1.2 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine delivering 59 kW (80.2 PS), ABS with EBD and air conditioning. The current model is 3540 mm x 1620 mm x 1695 mm (length x width x height), with a claimed 597 litres of cargo space.
In Indonesia, the car is called Suzuki Karimun and offered with a 1000cc petrol engine, whilst in China it forms the base for both the Changhe-Suzuki Beidouxing and Changhe-Suzuki F-MPV.
