The car contested 17 WRC events across the 2007 and 2008 seasons without claiming an outright win or podium, and Suzuki withdrew from the championship after just one full season due to the global economic crisis.
Before the SX4 WRC programme, Suzuki had competed in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship since 2002, first with the Ignis S1600 and later with the Swift S1600. Per-Gunnar Andersson won the JWRC title for Suzuki in 2004 and again in 2007, giving the team extensive lower-formula rally experience before attempting to step up to the World Rally Car category.
Testing of the SX4 WRC began in Japan in February 2007 before relocating to Europe in March, with gravel testing in southern France in April. At the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, Suzuki formally announced their WRC entry for the World Rally Car category. Changes to the WRC calendar led the team to treat 2007 primarily as a development year rather than a full competitive campaign.
The SX4 made its competitive debut on a test basis at the 2007 Tour de Corse in Corsica, driven by Nicolas Bernardi with co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin, finishing 31st overall. The team also competed at the 2007 Rally GB with Sebastian Lindholm and co-driver Tomi Tuominen, who finished 27th overall.
For the 2008 season Suzuki signed Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson as their two full-season drivers, with Shusuke Inagaki appointed technical director. The car's first official WRC appearance came at the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, where Andersson finished eighth overall, earning Suzuki two manufacturers' championship points. In Sweden, Gardemeister finished seventh. Both early rallies were affected by engine reliability problems caused by faulty head gaskets.
After struggling with reliability through the opening rounds, the team found better form at Rally New Zealand, where Andersson finished sixth and Gardemeister seventh. At the 2008 Rally Japan, held partly in the Sapporo Dome, the team recorded their best results of the season: Gardemeister finished fifth and Andersson sixth. During a super special stage inside the Sapporo Dome, Gardemeister set the SX4 WRC's first and only stage win. At Rally GB, the final round of the season, Andersson finished fifth and Gardemeister seventh.
Gardemeister finished the 2008 drivers' standings 13th with 10 points; Andersson finished 12th with 12 points. The Suzuki World Rally Team placed fifth in the manufacturers' championship with 34 points. Following the season, Suzuki announced its withdrawal from the WRC, attributing the decision to falling car sales caused by the global economic crisis, though reports had indicated the team had been reconsidering the programme even before the downturn.
Separately from its WRC use, a heavily modified derivative called the Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special competed at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. This car bore little mechanical resemblance to the WRC version, using a twin-turbocharged 3.1-litre V6 engine producing 910 hp (679 kW) and 890 N·m of torque. Nobuhiro Tajima drove the SX4 Hill Climb Special to multiple victories at Pikes Peak and set the overall track record of 9:51.278 in the car at the 2011 event.