In the era of Japan’s bubble economy, benefiting from the rapid economic development in Japan, Japanese auto companies also launched a large number of unconstrained products during that period. Although these cars are not used from the current point of view, their unique design The idea is very worthy of our study now. Today we will talk about the Suzuki RT-1 concept off-road vehicle that was unveiled at the 27th Tokyo International Motor Show in 1987. This concept car can be said to have ushered in an era of fusion of sports cars and off-road vehicles.
From the appearance point of view, the Suzuki RT-1 looks like a sports car, with a two-door and two-seater design. Its top is low and stretched. The rear wheel cancels the design of the fender and adopts a completely exposed shape. From some angles it looks like a Buggy race car right now. The shape of the front of the car is extremely low, and additional anti-collision bars are added at the front and rear of the car. As a personalized model for off-road use, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car has a high ground clearance, and the suspension travel has also become very large. In terms of body materials, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car uses FRP material, and the body cladding parts can be quickly disassembled and replaced.
The interior design is also very simple, and the simple design also makes cleaning inside the car very easy. The interior color scheme is mainly gray, yellow and black. Although it is a concept car, the internal parts of the Suzuki RT-1 concept car come from models sold on the market. GPS satellite navigation, high-performance audio and air conditioning, which were rare at the time, were used on the center console. In terms of other configurations, it also includes a series of racing configurations such as electric windows, sunroofs, bucket racing seats, four-point seat belts, and metal pedals. Created a very good sports car atmosphere.
In terms of power arrangement, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car adopts a rear mid-engine design, and the engine located in front of the rear axle also makes the rear of the Suzuki RT-1 concept car very thick. In order to further emphasize its off-road performance, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car also uses a large-travel suspension package and strengthens the strength of the chassis and body. In order to further emphasize its long-distance off-road performance, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car also added fuel tanks on both sides of the body, so two metal fuel hole covers can be seen on the body of the Suzuki RT-1 concept car.
In terms of driving form, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car also adopted the full-time four-wheel drive system that was quite popular at the time. In terms of power, it is equipped with a Suzuki 1.6L inline four-cylinder engine and a six-speed manual transmission. Judging from the power layout and body form of the Suzuki RT-1 concept car, it is closer to the current Buggy car concept in all aspects. If Japan’s bubble economy does not burst, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car is likely to be put into production according to the consumption capacity of the Japanese market at that time.
In the end, the Suzuki RT-1 concept car stayed at the concept stage. The X-90 launched by Suzuki in 1995 can be seen as inheriting the mantle of the RT-1 concept car to a certain extent. However, in the Japanese market at that time, due to the economic depression, this two-seater small off-road vehicle did not win the favor of the market, and it ended hastily after two years of production.
