Suzuki is one of the manufacturers that make motorcycles in addition to cars. Turin students saw it as a challenge to unite both concepts in one vehicle and that became this Suzuki Misano.
This Suzuki Misano concept is not so much an idea of Suzuki itself, but more the result of a collaboration between the Japanese car and motorcycle builder and students of the Istituto Europeo di Design (European design institute), the IED, in Turin.
It is fair to say that the Misano mainly looks like a car, but there is more to it. According to the designers, the model combines “the four wheels, functionality, efficiency and practicality” of a car with “the high performance and emotion” of a two-wheeler. The Misano is 4 meters long, 1.75 wide and only one meter high. The aggressively contoured front, with imposing LED strings, does indeed seem drawn in the style of Suzuki’s motorcycle department.
The most visible reference to the motorcycle, however, is the placement of the two seats, which are not placed next to, but behind each other. As a completely open two-seater, the aforementioned functionality of the Misano is limited, but of course it’s all about fun. There is no real windscreen and neither is a round steering wheel. Instead, the driver is given a motorcycle-like handlebar, to which the Misano undoubtedly obeys immediately. The ‘car engine’ is electric, although it is not explained exactly what kind of drive it is.
By the way, Suzuki has tried to connect cars with motorcycles before. This resulted, for example, in the Swift Katana, a fun mobile that we could just use.