The Kizashi is Suzuki’s flagship model. It had plans for many variants on the Kizashi platform like a sports model featuring four wheel drive and a V6 engine and even a station wagon. However, Suzuki dropped all its plans due to the financial crisis and launched the Kizashi with a 2.4L Inline-4 engine with over 170bhp. Enthusiasts could no longer wait for Suzuki to come up with a new model and hence bolted on a turbo along with some tweaks to come up with the Suzuki Kizashi Turbo concept.

The car made its public debut on April 30 during Speed Channel’s Test Drive program. The concept actually came out of USA based Suzuki tuner Road Race Motorsports working with a pre-production Kizashi GTS. Road Race kitted the standard Kizashi GTS with a 16G turbocharger, high-flow intercooler, an extreme spray injector, a blow-off valve and velocity air intake. As as result, power is up to 290bhp from the same 2.4L inline-4 which produced just 185bhp in stock form. Suzuki wanted to plonk GM’s 3.6L V6 engine into the Kizashi but was denied after GM-Suzuki partnership ended.

To handle all that power, Dunlop performance tyres are wrapped around 19-inch wheels and a new rear spoiler from Delta Tech Engineering to keep the rear stable. Road Race also added its own sports springs to Kizashi’s independent suspension. Check out the images and press release after the jump.

Press Release and more images after the break

SUZUKI’S CONCEPT TURBO KIZASHI ‘BLOWS’ DOORS OFF MIDSIZE COMPETITION

Blower heightens the excitement with lowered, tuned Kizashi

BREA, Calif. (April 30, 2010) – After an impressive performance preview of Suzuki’s 2010 Kizashi at last fall’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, the heightened fun (on closed course, with professional driver) continues with the debut of Kizashi’s concept turbocharged variant. As seen – beginning this month – with racer Tommy Kendall and his Speed Channel program “Test Drive,” this newest Kizashi concept morphs the intended definition of Kizashi from the Japanese – “something great is coming” – into “what might be coming next?”

In production form, the all-new Kizashi delivers a premium package and experience without the premium price tag, providing a unique blend of dynamic performance attributes and features more appropriate to the near-luxury sport sedan segment. The performance experts at Road Race Motorsports build on those performance attributes and near-luxury features with a host of mods designed to heighten the excitement factor while lowering the Kizashi’s lap times on any closed-course venue.

Road Race Motorsports, one of the chief suppliers of go-fast goods for Suzuki automotive enthusiasts, began the Suzuki turbo project with a pre-production Kizashi GTS. Boost is supplied to the stock heads and block by a 16G turbocharger, while temp is kept in check with Road Race Motorsports’ own high flow intercooler. Other adds on the hardware menu include custom fuel management, Road Race’s Sleeper blow-off valve, Velocity air intake and Extreme spray injector. The equal length turbo manifold is custom crafted, while the 38mm wastegate is supplied by Tial.

The enhanced power bumps the Kizashi’s already impressive engine to 290 hp and is connected to the track pavement via 19-inch Dunlops. Those are kept connected to the course by Road Race’s own sport springs, working in combination with Kizashi’s ultra-rigid unibody and all-independent suspension. High-speed stability is enhanced with the addition of a rear-mounted spoiler supplied by Delta Tech Engineering. The end result on the track – with either Road Race founder Rob Tallini, Tommy Kendall or the Suzuki enthusiast behind the wheel – is the need for speed suddenly and fully satisfied.

Air dates for the newest edition of Speed Channel’s “Test Drive” begin on April 30, 2010. For a complete schedule, visit the Speed Channel website.

Related posts: