Design Development: Suzuki Air Triser

Suzuki is one of the sleeping giants of the Japanese car industry – quietly producing more than three million vehicles worldwide in 2014 – but its automotive design process is little known to the outside world, or indeed promoted from within. The exception is the biennial Tokyo motor show, where its designers get a rare moment to show the depth of their talents.

The 2015 event was another good example, with the two-tone, compact Air Triser minivan concept catching the eye of the Car Design News team in particular. Indeed, so much so, the six-to-seven seater MPV with a footprint considerably shorter and narrower than a current Nissan Qashqai, was shortlisted as one of the best ten concepts of 2015 and highlighted within the associated Car Design Review 3 yearbook.

The original brief from management was to show Suzuki as a “brand beloved and used beyond the generations,” recalls styling design department general manager Yoshio Takeuchi. “Our mission is not to offer just a ‘means of transportation’ but to provide valuable products, offering ‘surprise’ by going beyond customers’ expectations, a ‘fun to drive’ feeling, more convenience, and comfort with safety.

“The demographic was middle-aged customers, but also mothers and kids and friends, so [interior] configuration variation was always part of the plan. We aimed to develop a unique product which has no competitors in the Japanese full-grown minivan market. Therefore, we designed this concept to catch the eye and remain in the memory.”

Exterior

Early sketches show motorcycle helmet as inspiration

The project started in October 2014 with both an interior and exterior design sketching phase. Judging by one particular group of rough exterior theme drawings, the shape and colour break-up of a light-coloured motorbike helmet and its dark visor seems instrumental in establishing the aesthetics of the Air Triser’s almost monovolume form, distinctive side profile that is almost symmetrical from front to back, and eventual two-tone feeling.

Early sketch bears close resemblance to finished car

Takeuchi says the team started with seven exterior proposals, then whittled them down to three proposals before choosing a final one. How they differ is unclear as they were not shown to CDN, but what is clear is that a side-on sketch dated in November 2014, shows a red and silver exterior which – bar some alloy wheels painted a gaudy red-metallic – looks remarkably similar to the final concept, suggesting that the theme taken forward didn’t take long to be decided upon.

Scale model and full-size model together in the studio

A scale model was then developed by the end of December 2014 after which a 1:1 clay model was made which was worked on and checked to ascertain the CAD data for the show model.

Air Triser’s camera-inspired lamps

The design of the small exterior components – like the headlamps influenced by old-school camera equipment – was also made and adjusted through CAD data.

The Air Triser on display at the Tokyo motor show

Interior

While the exterior was a relatively quick process, the interior took a little longer as Takeuchi says his team had to re-sketch the interior from December to January to better fit with the exterior design that had been frozen at the end of November 2014.

Original sketch shows simple grey colourway with a red pinstripe

The interior design team mulled over 10 interior proposals – with themes reflecting natural, modern, mid-century and manga influences – which were then narrowed down to three, before choosing the final one.

Key sketch shows fold-up steering wheel

All the sketches showed similar lounge-capable themes through various seat-folding propositions, but Takeuchi says the original sketch was the light-grey carpeted one with a red pinstripe interior accent while the key sketch was the one with a B-pillar-mounted infotainment screen and table, plus a fold-up steering wheel on the dash. The design that won through was picked because it was considered to best represent the ‘private lounge concept’ with seats that could allow passengers to face each other when parked, or be configured in a U-shaped sofa for even more conviviality.

Foam blocks and clay used to prove out seating concept

The interior design developed from CAD data into a 1:1 clay model after the sketching phase, with the design of small components made and adjusted through CAD data during an eight-month model build. Considerable time was spent working out how the seating would transform from regular and upright to low and loungey, and at the start relied only on simple white foam blocks within the clay buck to gauge space requirements.

Full-size model build of the Air Triser’s IP and driver’s seat

Takeuchi explains that some of the hardest parts of the build to get right included the movement range of the seats, steering wheel and monitor and more broadly how to match the interior and exterior designs. “Especially, it was difficult to decide a seat height position which satisfied both the interior lounge layout and a good driving position,” he says. “In lounge mode, we used the seatback as part of the [lounge] seat to achieve a spacious cabin.”

Interior seats in the ‘up’ position

In terms of what design elements were the hardest things to persuade management to agree to, Takeuchi cites “the need to have an interior atmosphere balanced between a public and also a comfortable private space. We also needed to prepare a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that suited that trend and understand a simple modern world-view which was not the essence of a conventional minivan.”

Interior seats in the ‘down’ position

Accessed via two huge sliding doors on one side (with just a driver’s door on the other) the seating transforms from three-rows ‘up’ to a large lounge area ‘down’. The extra curved screen unusually situated in part of the ceiling and side wall of the wide B-pillar adds an original dimension and is able to display satnav maps and connect to passengers’ smartphone content too.

Curved B-pillar screen

One official Suzuki photo even features an image of a disco ball in the ceiling screen, implying that the Air Triser could segue from a serene space to a party wagon if so desired.

Fold-away steering wheel in action at the Tokyo show

The Air Triser plays with the idea of a foldaway steering wheel to better enable a lounge-like feeling but Suzuki makes no mention of autonomous driving or electric power capability like similar concepts have promoted. Rather the Air Triser packs a ready-to-go 1372cc four-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid system with all-wheel drive.

Air Triser’s passenger-door arrangement

In packaging terms the Air Triser sits between two existing Japanese domestic market Suzuki products, the larger sliding-doored Landy (essentially a re-badged Nissan Serena) and the smaller Solio city MPV.

Suzuki Air Triser

The only worry with the Air Triser is whether there is any real production intent beyond its conceptual show car flourish, which Suzuki has been guilty of at past Tokyo shows. Takeuchi won’t or can’t say, but this cool take on the 21st century microbus – even down to its diagonal two-tone exterior – is a compellingly fresh proposition which deserves further production investigation, even in a toned-down form. And especially while VW, the originator of the segment, continues to delay making a new production camper van of its own.

Suzuki Air Triser

Vehicle type Minivan concept
Length 4200mm
Width 1695mm
Height 1815mm

Department general manager Yoshio Takeuchi
Overall team leader Toshie Ichige
Exterior designer Gan Liu
Interior designer Yuji Eguchi
GUI designer Takahiro Suzuki
Colour designer Keisuke Katayama
Project manager Toshihiko Ogura

Project started October 2014
Project completed September 2015
Launch Tokyo, October 2015