SUZUKI is moving its cars gently upmarket as new models arrive with goodies designed to tempt buyers to release a little more cash.

In the process it knows 2015 will have seen fewer new Suzukis sold than the record year of 2014, but it will still be the second best 12 months for the company in the UK, ever.

And that's after a clear out that saw the number of models drop from seven to five - although 2016 holds the prospect of two new arrivals to fill out showrooms again.

It's a delicate balancing act, trying to maximise profits with better cars while admitting, in the words of a Suzuki spokesman, "one of our biggest challenges is getting people to put us on their shopping list in the first place".

Statistics show that once a prospective buyer has taken a test drive in a new Suzuki he or she is very likely to buy it. Getting them through the showroom door is the harder part.

When the new car is ordered it will come from a Suzuki price list that starts £1,000 higher than before (at £6,999 for the new Celerio hatc) and will more than likely be fitted with alloy wheels and satellite navigation, showing an aspirational intent.

Now, adding to the upmarket potential, come two new reasons to take a Suzuki for a spin; a 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol engine with more power (138bhp) and better economy (52.3mpg quoted, 41mpg on test) than the previous 1.6, and the option of a six-speed automatic gearbox.

The engine comes fitted to a new Vitara S grade at the top of the range, costing a surprisingly modest £20,850 and coming very well equipped for the money, with big black alloy wheels, black side body mouldings, silver door mirrors and a rear spoiler helping the car stand out (in one of four colours, including a striking bright red).

Now, even Suzuki's best friends would hardly claim the company has produced string of style leaders. Well, take a look at this latest Vitara in hopped-up S form and it looks, well, stylish.

Not out of place in a posh country farmshop slipped in between a couple of Evoques, for instance.

Inside, the S-ness is confined to a bit of red stitching on the trim and red surrounds to the air vents on a dash that still looks resolutely workaday, if sensibly set out and easy to manage (fiddly sat nav excepted).

The real delight comes when you fire up the new engine and enjoy its lack of diesel clatter and an eagerness to rev.

Diesels may still hold the economy trump card but the gap is narrowing (and the cost of running one may well include dearer servicing, remember) but this new Suzuki unit is a well tempered gem. Road tax of zero in year one and £130 thereafter and the Vitara S makes a compelling economic proposition.

Add in a gearbox that feels nicely connected to the spinning cogs at the end of the gear-lever and steering that stays positive, if not very feelsome, and you have car that is much nicer to punt along the road than you might expect.

And this car won't flinch when you turn off onto the rough stuff, where its raised ground clearance and all-wheel drive system make a pretty good fist of being a fully fledged go-anywhere machine. Indeed, it is one of the few (only?) cars of its type that not only looks like a 4x4 but really is one.

That may be the clincher for some potential buyers. The test drive will do the rest.