The automotive industry has a way of balancing itself out. The Dodge Viper went out of production, for example, a few months after the first Ford GTs started rolling off the line.
While Ferrari and Lamborghini were giving up on the manual transmission, Porsche was doubling down. And just a week after Toyota put the FJ Cruiser to pasture for good, Suzuki unveiled the Xbee.
Ostensibly based on the Hustler minivan, the Xbee (pronounced "cross-bee") takes the form of a retro sport-ute – albeit one that doesn't look like it'd be quite as capable as the discontinued Toyota (and much smaller to boot). But such are the times we live in when off-road stalwarts like the Ford Explorer and Nissan Pathfinder have switched from body-on-ladder-frame construction to car-based unibodies.
Capabilities and size aside, the Xbee that first appeared as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show a few months ago is now going into production – albeit just for the Japanese market (for the time being at least).
Described as combining the “spacious cabin of a wagon and the fun of an SUV,” the Xbee is being launched in Japan exclusively with a hybrid powertrain, based around a 1.0-liter turbocharged engine, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission and available with either two- or four-wheel drive.
Two trim levels are available with either drivetrains, prices ranging from ¥1,765,800 (~$16k) for the base, front-drive Xbee MX to ¥2,145,960 ($19k) for an all-wheel drive MZ. Suzuki's also packed a whole raft of active safety systems in there, and figures it can sell about 2,000 of them every month in its home market.
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