After making its first appearance at the Mall of Asia earlier this year, Suzuki Philippines has finally launched the all-new Fronx. This latest mild hybrid offering promises the versatility to brave rush hour traffic just as well as it does winding country roads.

The Suzuki Fronx is a sub-compact crossover SUV, which actually looks more like a coupe. Up front, creating its rugged looks are an aggressive fascia. Daytime running lights, where you traditionally expect the headlights to be, double as signal indicators. The split-style LED headlights are located where the fog lights are usually placed. Their “double fender design” has the top part of it, following the lines created by the DRLs, and the lower part follows the lines of the split style head light cluster, creating a wide muscular stance.

The tire wells have black plastic cladding and this continues down to the bottom of the front and rear doors, there are also brushed aluminum side panel plates under this. It has a ground clearance of 170mm. It’s equipped with a shark’s fin antenna, a rear-hatch spoiler, with an integrated high mount brake light. The rear LED combination lights are joined by a light bar, which glows red giving it a distinct look on the road at night. The Fronx rolls on black gloss 16-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 195/65’s.

Suzuki implemented what they call a smart and modern cabin design, which comfortably seats five adults. The interior is upholstered in a combination of black and burgundy, with a mix of synthetic leather and a cloth like material. The door trims and dash have a mix of hard plastics and soft touch materials, which were mostly in burgundy. The rest of the cabin is trimmed in piano black and a mix of gloss and brushed aluminum finish.

The steering wheel is leather-wrapped and has controls for the infotainment, hands-free telephony and cruise control with related settings.

It was refreshing to get behind a speedometer, tachometer, temperature and fuels gauges which were all analog. Typical of a Suzuki layout, this time you get a colored 4.2-inch Multi-Function Information Display (MFID) set between the tach and speedo. As expected for this segment, you get single zone climate control, and rear occupants get air conditioning vents in the center console with two USB charging ports.

The top of the line SGX was also equipped with a large heads up display which had driver selectable view modes which includes a basic mode for that shows speed and rpms, speed and external temperature, speed and current fuel consumption and speed and battery state of charge and whether battery is charging or assisting the engine.

The infotainment system is a large nine-inch touchscreen, which shows vehicle status, supports Bluetooth music and telephony, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This also serves as a sizeable screen for the 360-degree camera. There’s wireless charging for Qi compatible smartphones but don't worry, wired connectivity through a USB A socket is still available, and there’s still a 12V power socket. There are foot well lights to make ingress and egress easier and around back Suzuki gives you 304 liters luggage space and 605 liters with the second row seats folded forward.

The all-new Suzuki Fronx is powered by the K15C Dual-jet DOHC 16-valve, 1.5-liter Dual VVT gasoline engine which puts out 100-Hp at 6000 rpm with 135-Nm of torque at 4400 rpm, assisted by a 12V mild hybrid system. This is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, which drives the front wheels. This vehicle has already been tested by the Automotive Association of the Philippines (AAP) to return as high as 27.98-kilometers per liter.

That is what Suzuki calls their advanced driver assist system. And the top-of-the-line Hybrid Fronx is the first in their local lineup to be equipped with this. The system is equipped with both a front facing camera located behind the rear view mirror and a radar sensor in the front bumper. The rear bumper houses blind spot sensors.

There's Dual Sensing Brake Support II (DSBS II) where at speeds between 5- and 180-kph, the system can detect an object in the lane ahead of the Fronx. First it will alert the driver, and activate the brake assist system if the driver decides to react and step on the brake. If the driver does not react in time, the vehicle will brake for the driver using the automatic brake system. There are of course the familiar features like the Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Lane Keep Assist, Weaving Alert, Automatic High Beam, Blind Sport Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Active Cruise Control (adaptive cruise control).

Standard safety features are the three-point seatbelts for five occupants, six SRS airbags, Hill Hold Control, Electronic Stability Program and, ABS with EBD.

The Suzuki Fronx is now available and prices will be revealed during its official launch later today.