Within the small car dimensions of the Suzuki Celerio, the designers of the new version have worked hard to maximise the interior space, giving ride to the chosen hashtag attached to the model - #MoveSmart.
“As our most affordable model at the time of launch in 2015, the Celerio has welcomed an entire generation of new car buyers to Suzuki.
“That is why we paid so much attention to the design and specification of this model, to ensure it perfectly exemplifies our ethos of efficiency, durability and value-for-money in a compact package,” says Brendon Carpenter, Brand Marketing Manager of Suzuki Auto South Africa.
There are three model options in the revised range with the entry-level 1.0 GA manual priced at R174 900 followed by the 1.0 GL manual at R194 900 and the 1.0 GL AMT at R209 900.
The 2022 Suzuki Celerio is a brand-new model from the tar up and features a new exterior and interior design, a new platform and a new DualJet engine.
The new Celerio has a deep oval grill with large S-emblem and chrome highlights that stretch beyond the grille to the teardrop headlamps. This brightwork also disguises the fit lines of the lower moulded bumper, while the lower black and body colour bumper houses the fog lights (on the GL specification level).
From the side, the Celerio has a more accentuated hip line and at the rear, the droplet tail lamps and high-level third brake light round off the picture.
From the outside, the GL specification – the highest in this range – is distinguished from the GA specification by its 15-inch darkened alloy wheels (as opposed to 14-inch steel wheels), body-coloured door handles and side mirrors.
The 2022 Celerio rides on a new version of Suzuki’s HEARTECT platform. In the Celerio, this platform allowed Suzuki to move the wheels to the outermost corners for better road holding and to lower the starting weight of the Celerio to 805 kg. All this was done while improving body strength, ride and handling performance as well as crash-test safety.
The cabin features new, integrated front and rear seats and Suzuki has added a 60:40 split rear seat and reshaped the luggage bay with a flush fitting parcel shelf, luggage hooks and a deeper base (despite housing a full-sized spare) to increase loading space to 295 litres.
In the front, the dashboard has a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system (standard on the GL specification level).
As this model traditionally spends most of its time in the city commute, Suzuki redesigned the centre console to integrate all the main controls, including power windows (GL), door locks (GL) and the standard air-conditioning to be close at hand for both the driver and front passenger.
The new-generation touch-screen infotainment system is equipped with a USB port, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard. It also features a host of vehicle notifications, alerts and information, such as instantaneous and average fuel consumption, fuel range and information from its integrated rear parking sensors.
The GA model is also equipped with rear parking sensors, but the guidance is audio only.
Almost as a throwback to a bygone era, the GA does not have a radio fitted. It is pre-equipped with a roof-mounted antenna, two speakers and integrated wiring.
In the GL model, there is silver detailing on the centre and side air vent bezels, silver door handles, front and rear power windows, remote controlled door locks and front- and rear mounted speakers connected to the infotainment system.
Also new to the Celerio, and South Africa, is Suzuki’s new DualJet engine technology.
The engine offers multi-point fuel injection from two injectors per cylinder, which allowed Suzuki engineers to offer more efficient combustion and a higher compression ratio (11.5:1).
The engineers also added roller rocker type valve mechanisms, variable valve timing for the four valves per cylinder, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and oil cooling jets under each of the three pistons for greater thermal efficiency and a generally lower operating temperature.
While the main focus in the Celerio is on fuel efficiency, the efficient combustion and EGR system has lowered the emission rating to a mere 84 g/km.
“The K10C engine is brand new to South Africa, and we cannot wait to show customers how far they can stretch their petrol budget in the new Celerio. The K-series of engines are however well-established in South Africa and across the world, where it is not only used in Suzuki, but supplied by us for use in many other Japanese vehicle brands and several European and American vehicles,” says Carpenter.
In South Africa, this engine will deliver 49 kW at 5 500 r/min and 89 Nm at 3 500 r/min.
Power is delivered to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission or an automated manual transmission (AMT) with the same number of gears. The latter performs from inside the cabin like a normal automatic transmission (with the option of manual override).
The new model is fitted with a McPherson strut and coil spring front suspension and Torsion beam and coil spring rear suspension. Ground clearance is a solid 170 mm.
The front-mounted disk brakes are equipped with anti-lock brakes, electronic brakeforce distribution and emergency brake assistance and it has two crash bags across the range.
The Celerio range will be sold with Suzuki’s 5 year / 200 000 km mechanical warranty and a Roadside Assistance programme for the same period. A 6-year / unlimited anti-corrosion warranty is also included as standard. GL models also receive a 2-year / 30 000 km service plan as standard.
