Could Suzuki be Considering a Samurai Resurrection?

Although the Grand Vitara has been carrying the torch for Suzuki's surprisingly long-running bloodline of 4x4 SUVs, it isn't exactly following in their footsteps. From the old Hopestar ON360 to the LJ80 to the SJ410 to the Samurai, Suzuki four by fours offered much of the goat-line go-anywhere substance of their larger competitors, albeit packaged into far more tractable and efficient sizes well-suited to the growing urban sprawls of North America. And now even the Grand Vitara is getting a little long in the tooth. 

So, what could possibly be a better replacement than this? After the Samurai's demise in North America due in large part to safety concerns, Suzuki continued the platform overseas under the Jimny moniker, and what you see here might be the latest in that line of vehicles. Using the cheap underpinnings of the vastly popular Swift model, it's entirely possible that the car could be made to pass North American emissions and safety standards, and would definitely bring the best-loved Suzuki ever back to a market in which the Japanese brand continues to flounder.