Suzuki storms through North Texas

American Suzuki visited North Texas recently and brought with them three unique new concept vehicles for segments they currently do not occupy in the U.S. market.
Swift is a fun little sport hatch that kind of resembles MINI and is currently available in other global markets. We will see the second-generation model here sometime early in the next decade. And this sporty current model they brought out looks nothing like the little car they had in the U.S. market a decade ago, thank goodness.
A vehicle that will be arriving very soon is the Equator pickup, Suzuki’s first real truck for North America. Based on a shared Nissan platform, Equator should arrive late this year or early next year and will offer choice of powertrains and running gear as well as an offroad edition.
Fresh off its global debut at the New York Auto Show, this is Concept Kizashi 3’s second stop in a whirlwind tour. The near-luxury sport sedan is “somewhat mid-sized” but no specific details as to powertrains, price, final design or equipment was going to be spilled while it was in North Texas. Marketing V.P. Gene Brown did say that the production version should arrive on our shores by 2010. The concept vehicle is being shown in all-wheel-drive and powered by a 300hp 3.6-liter V-6 with six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters.
While currently only offering vehicles in one-third of all automotive segments, Suzuki hopes to increase that to half with the launch of these new vehicles in the near future.
And while Suzuki may not be thought of as one of the big global automakers, they did manage to sell about 2.4 million units last year, no small feat in itself.
Suzuki has announced that they are going forward as a Japanese car company and their partnerships with Korean companies are expiring soon. They will also be celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2009.
And they said their current and new models all embody the Suzuki mantra of “Travel light, live fully.”