Isuzu plans to make a baby mu-X

KUALA LUMPUR: The SUV segment is definitely very popular among all other car breeds, especially the smaller one, which has managed to churn out a great response in this decade. The practicality of an SUV, along with the power and city-friendliness, has taken these small muscular cars to a hugely popular level.

Hence, keeping this in mind, Isuzu is looking to encash on this growing market by bringing a new small SUV. This new  SUV would be thrown in to compete against the Ford EcoSport and the Honda BR-V.

This news has been confirmed by Ken Takashima, who is the VP and deputy MD of Isuzu Motor India when he mentioned that a certain small SUV model is under the development phase. And if everything falls into place according to the plan, we will see a new model in the future, which would most probably be the baby mu-X.

While addressing in an interview, Ken mentioned that the booming market for the small SUVs has caused the company to consider getting in the segment with a new offering. However, this would be the first instance when it will be bringing a small SUV, leaving aside the three-door option, which is the original MU.

However, the spokesperson did not give away any tentative date or year for its introduction and did not even reveal anything about its designing. But going by the company’s present lineup, there isn’t any car with a unibody platform. Hence, it would be having the same body-on-frame platform, which has a separate body placed on a rigid chassis below. But the only debatable topic here is whether the company will shorten mu-X’s chassis for this new car or make a completely new chassis.

Mechanically, it might have a tuned down engine making similar power to the Ford EcoSport. However, it is to be noted that the Malaysian mu-X isn’t an outright powerful car and the 2.5-litre engine can just make 136 horsepower but a good 320 Nm of torque.