Every time a car reviewer calls some new 3,000+ pound sports car “light,” think of this new Suzuki Ignis hatchback. It’s lighter than them all. In fact, the upcoming Ignis lighter than any carbon fiber hypercar available today.
This is the new Ignis. For full specs on this new tall hatchback, you can go over to IndianAutosBlog, but the relevant figures for us are weight. The Ignis comes in at 1940 pounds (880kg) with front wheel drive and 2028 pounds (920kg) with optional all-wheel drive. And that 880 kilo figure is in the car’s top trim level! The car’s brochure shows one package that gets the car down to 850kg.
Let’s compare that to the current crop of carbon fiber cars on sale today. It should be noted that carbon fiber is the leading technology in lightweight car construction.
The LaFerrari weighs 2767 lbs (1255kg), 827lbs (375kg) heavier than the 2WD Ignis.
The McLaren P1 weighs 3197 lbs (1450kg), 1257 lbs (570kg) heavier than the 2WD Ignis.
The Porsche 918 Spyder, even in its lightest configuration, weighs 3615 lbs (1640kg). That’s 1587lbs (720kg) more than a comparable all-wheel drive Ignis. Did I just say that the Ignis was comparable to a 918? This is a fun test.
McLaren’s other models, the 650S and the 570S weigh in at 2868 lbs (1301kg) and 2895 lbs (1313kg), respectively. Both of those are dry weight figures from McLaren.
From the little manufacturers out there, there’s Pagani with the Huayra at 2980 lbs (1350kg) dry and there’s Koenigsegg. I imagine that Koenigsegg would build whatever kind of Agera you want, but their all-carbon-everything One:1 tips the scales at 2998 lbs (1360kg) with half a tank of gas. That’s impressive for a supercar these days, but not that great by Suzuki standards.
To dip below the Suzuki’s weight figure, you have to really delve into the depths of limited-edition, barely-road-legal vehicles from England, where they will give license plates to anything with a steering wheel, a seat, and a Union Jack. There’s the 1430 lb (650kg) Elemental RP1, which is not yet in production. There’s the also 1430 lb (650kg) Zenos E10, which may or may not have been sold to anyone. Finally, there the BAC Mono, which has no roof, no doors, and no passenger seat.
BMW also sells carbon cars today, the i3 and the i8, but those come in at 2635 (1195kg) and 3274 lbs (1485kg).
Only one car comes close: the Alfa Romeo 4C. But even when you drain that car of all of its fluids and weigh it bone dry, it still comes in at 1973 lbs (895 kg)! The Alfa 4Cs you see running around in the US hover around a more hefty 2400 lbs (1130kg).
Now, these figures all come from manufacturers themselves, and everybody measures their figures slightly differently, but even the cheatiest way of measuring puts these carbon cars as heavier than the Ignis.
So this four-door hatchback from Suzuki weighs less than all of those acknowledged lightweights. And it comes with a real interior and room for five people.
It goes to show that building a modern sports car (or supercar) is a heavy proposition. There are big engines to account for, hybrid motors and batteries, too. Were it not for carbon fiber, these super cars would be absolutely massive.
And it also shows that a simple, minimal design will still come away lighter than the rest of them.
Photo Credits: Suzuki
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