Category: Suzuki

Suzuki decided to focus on small cars at time when competitors were building bigger models like SUVs. Once again, while carmakers abandon the traditional saloon market to produce crossovers, the Japanese carmaker will launch a new saloon in the coming years set to compete with the Mondeo.

In an interview with Ward’s Auto, American Suzuki vice president Gene Brown has revealed that the company will launch a saloon derived from the Kizashi 1 and Kizashi 2 concept cars unveiled at Frankfurt and Tokyo respectively. However, the future model won’t compete directly with the segment best sellers. Doing so would likely be a bottomless pit. The car maker would go on its own to develop a smaller car with a roominess matching the best in segment.

Suzuki sold a Mondeo competitor in the US which was are-badged Chevrolet Epica but the car never met any success there. The company will unveil the Kizashi 3 at the next New York Auto Show in April.

Suzuki has announced the pricing for the new Splash model which will go on sale on March 8 this year.

The entry level, 1.2 GLS, will cost £8,999. For this amount, the small Suzuki is fully equipped: CD tuner with MP3 player and steering wheel-mounted audio controls, leather-trimmed steering wheel, remote central locking, front electric windows , manual air conditioning, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, height-adjustable front seats and an information display. Add £500 for the 1.2 GLS+ and its extra equipment: 5 inch alloys, front foglamps and privacy glass on the rear side windows and tailgate. Both versions are powered by the same 85bhp petrol engine. Both versions feature a five-speed manual gearbox while the GLS+ can get a four-speed automatic gearbox as an option.

The diesel version, called 1.3 DDiS, offers the same equipment as the 1.2 GLS+ and is powered by the 74bhp 1.3-litre turbo diesel built in Suzuki’s new engine plant in India under licence from Fiat. The diesel version costs £10,499.

The Splash is built by Suzuki in Hungary, alongside the Suzuki Swift, SX4 and Ignis. The carmaker is targeting annual sales of approximately 60,000 units throughout Europe.

The Maruti Alto will pass the one-million mark this week. The car has been on sale in India since 2000.

“The model is just about 2,500 units short of crossing the one-million mark, which we expect to achieve in the middle of the week,” a company official told. The Alto model has set many records since its introduction such as being the first one to reach the 100,000 mark in 150 days. The model had recorded its best monthly sales of 22,784 units in November 2007, the official said, adding it continued to average 20,000 units a month. The top-end variant LXi, outsells the other two, Standard and Lx by huge margins.

Along its success in India, the Maruti also meets a string demand abroad. Maruti has expeorted 152,300 units in the world. Surprisingly, the Netherlands are its largest foreign market.

The Tata Nano won’t go on sale until October but the Maruti 800 already suffers from the cheapest car in the world.

In January the 800 sales dropped by 20 percent and prices for a secondhand model dropped by 30% in just two months.

The Nano’s website recorded more than 10 million visitors since its launch.

Despite denying the will to develop a cheaper model than the 800, Maruti executives might rethink about it next year after the sales results of the Nano. Other carmakers don’t hesitate and Hyundai plans to launch a Nano’s competitor by 2011. Renault-Nissan has similar plans.

Source: Autocar

In a previous post it was reported that Hyundai planned to launch a budget car set to compete with the Tata Nano. Since then, the Indian press is reporting similar plans for Maruti but Suzuki issued a statement to deny the rumours.

The company said that it has “no plans of developing or offering a new car below the Maruti 800.” and reminds that it has built a succesful people car for the last 24 years with the 800 model.

Instead of competing with Tata, Maruti wants to move upmarket with the future Splash and A-Star models.

Suzuki has recorded a strong growth over the period october-december and has posted a better-than-expected 23% jump in quarterly profit thanks to its small models such as the Swift and the SX4 which don’t suffer from the record-high fuel prices.

Suzuki realised an operating profit of £178 million when analysts expected the company to book £168 million. Net profit for the third quarter raised by 20% to £98 million, on a 12% increase in revenue to £5.3 billion.

Suzuki suffered less from the high gas prices than other car makers, but was also helped by its Indian venture with Maruti which recorded 24% rising net profit. On the third trimester, Suzuki increased its global production by 9.9% to 680,000 vehicles. Japan recorded a slow 6.1% increase while overseas sales jumped by 18%.

Main shareholder of Maruti with a 54.2% stake, Suzuki is determined to make its Indian unit a major production hub to keep its market share in India, but also to export to other countries.

First, the company will unveil next month its low cost model, known as the A-Star model which will built at 150,000 units per year from October 2008. The small hatchback will be exported to Europe first. Secondly it will launch several new models in the coming years. But the most interesting recent move has been the nomination of a new managing director. Indeed, Suzuki replaced the Indian managing director Jagdish Khattar by a Japanese man Shinzo Nakanishi which will keep a close eye on the new subsidiary.

Maruti will likely become one of the strongest Suzuki’s asset in the future as Maruti sold more cars in India than its parent in Japan during the first half of the fiscal year. With a gloomy Japanese market, Suzuki national sales won’t likely be better in the future so Maruti will become vital and is expected to represent a third of the 3 million cars built by Suzuki by 2010.

Suzuki will join the global car’s band when it unveils its Suzuki A-Star Concept at New Delhi Motor Show. The concept car previews a future global car Suzuki intends to build in India at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant beginning in October 2008.

Specifications of the model remains unclear, but it is said that the small car will be powered by a 1.0-litre petrol engine which will compliant with Euro 5 emissions. A four-seater, the concept-car is displayed as a five-door model but a three-door variant mustn’t be ruled out.

It’s too soon to comment on the styling, but one does not expect the production model to be so appealing as Suzuki will focus on cutting cost. However, the future Suzuki will keep the overall shape as it will likely be sold in Europe and Japan under the label Alto.

Suzuki plans to increase the Manesar’s production capacity to 1 million vehicles in order to meet the Indian demand and also export cars to Europe.

Suzuki will release a pickup at the next Chicago Motor Show in February 2008. Dubbed Equator, the Japanese pickup will be derived from the Nissan Navarra named Frontier in the US.

At this stage, details regarding the final spec of the pickup remain unknown. Perhaps Suzuki will focus on a new design in order to appeal to the current brand’s customers although the pickup will likely be a re-badged Navarra in order to cut cost. As the Navarra is currently being built in the Nissan Tenessee factory, the future Suzuki pickup will avoid the traditional custom tax of 25% applied to imported pickups.

This is not the first time, Suzuki wants to sell a pickup model in the US. Indeed, it unveiled a Grand Vitara pickup concept car at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show but it never went into production as it would have been tooo expensive on the American market. But Suzuki has signed an agreement with Nissan since then. Suzuki provides Kei car models to Nissan on the Japanese market while Nissan provides bigger vehicles like the Nissan Serena re-badged Landy and soon the Navarra.