[SonicAerio]

Originally Posted by Ming

Notes on Suzuki:

- The SX4 Sport sedan (2WD) only became available within the last year. Up until then it was only offered as a 4WD Hatchback.

- The Forenza / Reno have been decontented over the past couple of years (not as good a value anymore, no alloy wheels standard, for example) and are being phased out this year.

- Forenza / Reno at their peak helped Suzuki break 10,000 in sales. Now that they are being de-emphasized, Suzuki sales have dropped .

- Suzuki USA does not have a true gas-sipper in its lineup (SX4 gets just mediocre fuel economy), and is intruducing a Nissan based Pickup soon...

Seems management at American Suzuki have been trying a little too hard to distance themselves from the image of a maker of motorcycles with all of the SUV and now Pickup focus. Even the SX4 Sedan emphasizes driving feel over fuel economy.

Where's the WagonR when they need it?

My guess is that alot of folks were drawn to Suzuki when gas prices rose, but many just turned and left when they found no Fit or Versa-like gas-sipper, seeking a Honda or Nissan dealer.

This is trying to be corrected as quickly as possible......

As I just posted another topic, due to market demands and praise they recieved for adding navagation standard to the SX4 for MY 2009 Suzuki decided to speed it up and bring it to 2008 MY cars as a "Special Edition" option

Link is here

Also if you noticed, due to North American Market Blunders and the fact Suzuki never reached its 200,000 vehicle goal by 2007 Suzuki has been doing some re-shuffling.

Rick Suzuki has has stepped down as chairman of Suzuki NA. He will continue on with Suzuki as an advisor to the regional operations board.

In conjunction with this event, Suzuki Japan has decided to re-organize the entire North American Suzuki operation by bringing together all of it's branches including auto, motorcycle, marine, all-terrain and corporate in to one company under the leadership of Kinji Saito, Director of Marketing and Sales.

This is one of the final phases of a unification of the Suzuki nameplate with the intended goal of allowing all of the divisions to work more closely together with eachother.

On a side note, Suzuki has found a new advertising agency for it's NA auto division. Replacing Dentsu Next is Marina Del Rey based Siltanen & Partners. Still no in-depth details on how S&P will differ in advertising approach versus what we have seen from Dentsu.

And about Hybrids:

So back to your question on a Suzuki Hybrid. The current "plan" is for a 2011/2012 release of a hybrid in the Suzuki line-up. The car that was most indicated for this programme was one version of the Kizashi, however the SX4 is also in "consideration". According to Osama Honda, cheif engineer of the SX4 - There is no firm decision yet as to which vehicle model will carry the hybrid system we currently have under development. What we are studying is which would be the most effective set up for this system. Honda also indicated that the hybrids in development would definitely be real Suzuki's , not a rebadge offering.
If you ask Koichi Suzuki, Suzuki NA, he simply says that it will be an "all new vehicle" when the hybrid debuts in North America. He also ruled out the Grand Vitara as a candidate. However Hiroshi Tsuda, Suzuki Japan president says " If we did decide to build a Grand Vitara hybrid, we would likely introduce it after 2010."
Koji Yamada, chief engineer of the XL7 says the hybrid system is not a possibility for the "current" generation of that vehicle, however he seems to leave room for a next generation possibility.
Is there anything that the 3 men do agree on? Yes... hybrid is coming, it's a suzuki built/engineered vehicle, and "likely candidate" is mid-sized premium sedan.

As for 2009 plans:

There is a lot of good news for 2009 too. Revised gearing, upgraded transmition, and ecu remapping will mean better MPGs for SX4's! Also the planned release for the FWD SX4 Wagons is moving forward and they also will have all of the above mentioned. This will make the SX4 more miserly on gas but it will also come with a lower sticker price due to the standard fwd tranny so you will be saving both on gas and on the sticker! SX4 Sport will include split rear folding seats as well as dual arm rests! (why didnt they do that in the first place???) Of course you all know that navigation will be standard in SX4's.
They are also adding a new entry level SX4 sedan for those on a minimal budget. This should help add a competative edge for entry level vehicle sales.

Grand Viagra is finally getting the new efficient 4 cylinder option! It's a 2.4 166 hp, 162 lb ft torque. They are KILLING the 2.7 litre 185 hp motor currently in these vehicles in favor of a V-6, 230 HP, 213 lb ft torque, which actually gets better gas mileage than the discontinued 2.7 litre 185 hp! The front of the exterior will see some updates as well as a whole host of interior display and conviniece updates. So 45 more horses and better gas mileage.... pretty impressive

XL7 - They are discontinuing all of the 5 passenger models. Instead there will be 4 different levels of the 7 passenger configuration however there is no longer a base trim model offered.
The XL7 will now come with the upgraded, new 6-speed automatic transmistion that I had mentioned a while back. This will give the XL7 better gas mileage in both city and hwy as well as decrease rpms at hwy speeds.

XL7 Limited will come standard with Navigation/DVD combo, sunroof, leather interior, premium sound system, chrome wheels, Nivomat self-leveling rear suspension, compass in drivers information centre, chrome handles, heated door mirrors.

And of course there is the Suzuki Equator RMZ4 but I'm a bit dispassionate about that vehicle so yeah..... they are coming lol.

Ming, you should know, anytime you mention Suzuki here on GMi....if I have any knowledge from other forums and such I'll try and add my .02