Sector: City car Price: TBA Fuel: 3.6–4.3l/100km CO2: 84–99g/km

First seen in Europe at the Geneva Show 2014, the Suzuki Celerio replaces both the current Indian-built Alto and the Splash, built in a joint venture with GM Europe. European Celerios are sourced from Thailand, although the car is also built in India where Suzuki enjoys a 40% market share.

The car is an A-segment model and, like the outgoing Splash, is available only as a five-door hatchback and is designed as a five-seater. Diesel models are available in some markets but petrol engines will probably be the choice for most European markets.

The standard engine is a three-cylinder naturally aspirated engine of 998cc producing 68hp at 6,000rpm and 90Nm of torque from 3,500rpm. This engine  offers combined fuel consumption of 4.3l/100km and CO2 emissions of 99g/km.

There is an option of a second engine with exactly the same but using Suzuki’s Dualjet technology, first seen on the Swift. This engine produces the same power as the standard engine but slightly more torque at 93Nm. Using this engine, fuel consumption is reduced to 3.6l/100km on the combined cycle with CO2 emissions of 84g/km. Suzuki fits this engine with automatic stop and start as standard, whereas the standard engine comes without it and this is likely to be responsible for a proportion of the reduction in fuel consumption.

A five-speed manual transmission is standard but an automated option is also available and may be appreciated by those who use the Celerio for commuting.

Suzuki claims that the Celerio has class-leading luggage capacity at 254 litres with all seats upright. The car feels surprisingly spacious for a city car. European requirements will ensure that ESC stability control is fitted as standard to European models. Other equipment includes driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags, air conditioning, alloy wheels, DAB radio, CD tuner, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, electric windows and electric door mirrors. Standard equipment varies according to market and trim specification.

68hp is almost the standard power output for A-segment models, but the Celerio feels surprisingly lively and free revving, probably because of the long-stroke engine, which develops torque lower in the rev range. The Celerio can be hustled along with surprising ease. At the same time, the engine is smooth, even by three-cylinder engine standards while the ride quality is very impressive.

Most of us would probably not choose a small car like this for motorway travel, but the Celerio was a capable performer at motorway speeds, while the ride quality and refinement add to the cruising ability.

All this was from our experience of driving the standard engine. Unfortunately the Dualjet engine was not available to drive. We also sampled the automated manual transmission, which did not offer the smoothest of gear changes around town, but strangely seemed smoother when used on the open road.

The Celerio is not likely to feature strongly as a fleet model, but there is little doubt that Suzuki has produced a small car that is far more capable than you might expect of a city car.

What we think

The Celerio has a lot going for it as a city car, with lively performance, good economy, good accommodation, impressive refinement and ride comfort.