DESIGNING and building cars is an expensive business, and as the industry moves towards an electric future via ever-tighter emissions targets, it is only going to get more challenging, writes William Scholes.
In this environment, economies of scale are more important than ever, which is why all sorts of partnerships are popping up.
For example, Ford, which is not exactly a minnow, has an agreement with the giant Volkswagen Group to build cars on VW's electric car platform.
Peugeot, which already had Citroen and DS under its wing, added Vauxhall to its portfolio not so long ago, and has now merged with Fiat, Chrysler and Jeep to form a new umbrella company called Stellantis.
Toyota, which vies with Volkswagen for the title of 'world's largest auto-maker', has a bunch of tie-ins.
Thus the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra were developed together; Toyota's upcoming GR 86 sports car is a co-production with Subaru, as was its GT86 predecessor; and the next Mazda 2 will be a gently restyled Toyota Yaris.
There is also an agreement between Suzuki and Toyota. Each has bought shares in the other and they will work together on new tech such as autonomous driving, while Suzuki - a small car specialist - will lend its expertise to Toyota; going in the other direction is Toyota's hybrid and electrification know-how.
The very early outworkings of this arrangement have already given us a Toyota RAV4 with a Suzuki badge as well as the car on this page.
It might say 'Suzuki Swace' on the tailgate, but the same car was launched a couple of years ago as a Toyota Corolla.
This has been the gentlest of transitions. Beyond the marque and model badges, you would need to park the Corolla and Swace side-by-side to spot any differences. There's a subtly changed front grille treatment, and that's about your lot.
The Swace obviously comes out of the same Derbyshire factory as the Corolla, which kits out the Suzuki with a 120bhp petrol-electric 'self-charging' hybrid drivetrain and two highly-specified trim levels.
You can get the Corolla with a more powerful hybrid system and its trim levels are structured differently.
Still, the Swace looks like strong value. In generously equipped entry SZ-T guise, the Swace is priced from £27,499 (a promotion knocked £3k off this...) and slots between the Corolla in Icon trim (from £26,730) and Design trim (from £28,495). A range-topping Swace SZ5 is £29,299, while the Corolla heads into the £30ks.
When cars are mechanically identical, it would take a spreadsheet and a lot of time to work out which particular model best fits your own requirements.
The Swace comes out of the same Derbyshire factory as the Toyota Corolla, which kits out the Suzuki with a 120bhp petrol-electric 'self-charging' hybrid drivetrain and two highly-specified trim levels
SZ-T specification includes seven airbags, dual zone automatic air conditioning and an eight-inch multimedia system incorporating Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity.
There are also heated front seats, a heated steering wheel - which is nice - and a rear parking camera and a 'pre-collision' emergency braking system.
The step up to SZ5 adds keyless locking, 'simple-intelligent' park assist, parking sensors front and rear and a wireless phone charger.
Its upgraded safety kit includes blind spot monitor and rear cross-traffic alert.
The hybrid system pairs a 1.8-litre petrol engine with 101bhp and an electric motor with 71bhp. Because of the way the system works and juggles between its power sources, the total output is pegged at 120bhp.
Trying to work out the hybrid systems maximum torque is more opaque. The petrol engine is able to serve up 105lb ft while the motor can deliver 120lb ft.
The ride is cushy and composed, and the Swace flows along twisty and lumpy roads with aplomb. With a different engine and gearbox set-up, it might even be genuinely fun
All that would mean the Swace is not going to trouble a hot hatch, though the biggest obstacle to enthusiastic driving is the CVT automatic transmission.
On light throttle, the Swace coasts along with a very high degree of refinement. But ask it for anything more - joining a motorway, for example - and it all gets rather noisy and unpleasant.
You quickly learn that the best course of action is to not ask much of it and to take it easy... driven thus, the Swace is a smooth, quiet and frugal machine. Just not a very quick one, or with the sort of sharp throttle response we have become used to from Suzuki.
Still, the ride is cushy and composed, and the Swace flows along twisty and lumpy roads with aplomb. With a different engine and gearbox set-up, it might even be genuinely fun.
And once up to cruising speed on the motorway, this is a comfortable and highly pleasant car.
The usual caveat with a 'self-charging' hybrid applies here, in that the drivetrain is able to extract the most advantage from its electric element in stop-start driving; steady cruising means the petrol engine takes on the lion's share of the duties, effectively meaning that the car is lugging around a heavy battery and electric motor that it can't make best use of.
That blunts the Swace's fuel economy on the motorway. I was getting mid-50mpg figures, which is what something like a diesel VW Golf will also manage, and without the CVT histrionics. The official combined fuel consumption is 64.2mpg.
Where the Swace beats a diesel rival is in its CO2 emissions, which are quoted as 99g/km, easing it into the 23 per cent benefit in kind bracket for company users.
That also helps keep Suzuki's CO2 average low, which is part of the reasoning behind the Toyota deal in the first place.
The Swace, then, is a model born out of a wider corporate strategy. I suspect that Suzuki customers have not been hammering down dealers' doors demanding that it sells a family estate car with a hybrid engine and CVT transmission.
That, perhaps, is rather reflected in modest sales ambitions of 2,000 units in its first full year on sale.
The Swace lacks the fizz that makes Suzuki models like the Swift such good fun to drive, and among the best in their class.
Hopefully future co-productions will fully embrace that sense of vim, while holding on to the more grown-up qualities of the Corolla and Swace.
As it stands, the low-key Swace is a perfectly competent and easy-to-live-with car. It's just not a very memorable or exciting one.
