Suzuki are well and truly stepping up the pace in the development of their competition version SX4 for entry into the 2008 World Rally Championship. The SX4 has successfully completed testing on tarmac in Europe, and its first public appearance is scheduled for mid-October at the Rally of France.

The SX4 rally car is said to feature a 2.0 litre turbocharged version of the SX4's J20 engine and is capable of around 150kW. Suzuki has also developed a new four-wheel drive system for the car. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the World Rally Championship heavy weights once the season kicks off.

The Swift Sport name will be adopted globally and the vehicle has already been launched onto the domestic market of Japan to rave reviews and sales. Since its launch in February last year, the Suzuki Swift has received world wide accolades taking out Car of The Year titles in various publications and from various organisations in New Zealand, Iceland, UK, China, Ireland, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.

The 'sports' look is matched by a larger capacity sports tuned 1.6 litre VVT engine that puts out a maximum output of 92kW at 6,800rpm compared with the Swift's 1.5litre with 75kW at 6,000rpm. The power to weight ratio is competitive with many of the hot hatches currently available on the Australian market.

In terms of safety, the Swift Sport features front, side and curtain airbags, but disappointingly, does not include electronic stability control. The standard model Swift did perform reasonably well in EuroNCAP crash testing, recording 4 (out of 5) stars for adult occupant protection.

It will be interesting to see how the Swift competes with the myriad of other hot hatches hitting the Australian market. Available in Australia in a five door manual, the Swift Sport is priced from $23,990.