Before Tesla had arcade mode, Suzuki made a full-blown gaming lounge on wheels
Published on Jun 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Jun 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Tesla has Arcade Mode in its EVs, which is basically a collection of video games accessible on the car’s touchscreen, but that’s nothing compared to the Suzuki SXBox.
Unveiled – for fun – in 2007, the SXBox is literally a console on wheels.
It was absolutely wild.
And the reason why they made it might surprise you.
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Before Tesla Arcade Mode, there was the Suzuki SXBox
You can do a lot through the infotainment system of your Tesla, including playing video games – while the car is stationary, obviously – in Arcade Mode.
But that’s not even close to what you could with the Suzuki SXBox.
Unveiled at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show in collaboration with Microsoft, this little hatchback featured an Xbox 360 fully integrated into the dashboard.
It also had four controllers, including one in the steering wheel, two projectors, and two high-definition screens mounted in the rear.
It was obviously nothing more than a marketing stunt, but the reason it existed is interesting.
In the Noughties, especially the early part of the decade, extreme tuning was all the rage.
Well, this Suzuki was designed as a tribute to that era.
Chrome wheels, screens everywhere, absurd mods for the bodywork – that sort of thing.
Fueled by video games like Need for Speed, MTV-era music videos – remember the yellow Hummers with the chrome spinners? – and Pimp My Ride, and of course Fast & Furious, everyone went mad with tuning mods.
The SXBox was just one example of extreme car modification
Extreme tuning still exists today, but in a totally different segment.
It went more upmarket, with brands like Brabus and Mansory, for example.
In other words, you’re a lot more likely to see a heavily customized Rolls-Royce Phantom or a Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen G63 than, say, a Peugeot 206.
Unsurprisingly, the Japanese automaker never made a production version.
We’re going to let you decide whether you want to add ‘fortunately’ or ‘unfortunately’ to the sentence above.
