Suzuki pushed its luck when it introduced the seven-seater XL7 on the market. Still, it was pretty successful with it, not thanks to the extra jump seats but due to the bigger trunk.
Suzuki was already known on the market with the Vitara lineup. It was a great success, but the Japanese carmaker understood that it needed something more. Thus, the engineers and designers worked closely together and made a new model that kept most of the five-passenger version features. Still, thanks to the longer wheelbase, its trunk was considerably bigger.
Sure, the design was not the most important asset of the vehicle. Yet, the carmaker tried to give the XL7 a distinct front fascia than on the rest of the Suzuki range. The grid-like grille that sat above the bumper was flanked by a pair of clear, corner-mounted headlights that sported the turning signals on their outer areas. Despite offering the car with a longer wheelbase, Suzuki kept the spare wheel mounted on the side-hinged rear door.
As expected, the interior offered room for seven people in a 2-3-2 configuration. However, while with all the seats in place, it could barely carry anything bigger than a briefcase in the trunk, in five-seat configuration was way larger, boasting up to 72 cu-ft (2,038 liters) of load space.
Under the hood, the carmaker installed a choice of two V6 engines and a turbodiesel for selected markets. However, only gasoline-powered versions were available with an automatic transmission.