The SX4 Crossover starts at $14,889 before destination, and the Road Trip Edition starts at $15,339. There’s also between $750 and $1,500 cash back offered on the 2008 SX4. Suzuki also has a generous $1,000 bonus-cash deal for recent college graduates. Most automakers only offer $500. For the rest of Suzuki’s year-end deals, click below.
When Suzuki rolled out the next generation of its Grand Vitara off-roader in 2006, our reviewers didn't see much to recommend it over the competition. Now with gas prices soaring and the market for SUVs tight, senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder sees even less to like about the vehicle. With an EPA-estimated 18 or 19 mpg in mixed city and highway driving, coupled with the fact that carmakers of all stripes have made a general miscalculation when it comes to truck-based SUVs, Wiesenfelder suggests you look past the Grand Vitara.
Suzuki is the second automaker to pull out of next year’s Detroit auto show in January. The company says there isn’t enough space in Cobo Hall to meet its needs. Porsche didn’t show up at last year’s show, but didn’t cite space concerns. It said Detroit wasn’t a market it needed to be in.
Even though Suzuki is a relatively small player in the automotive industry, this is still a sign that Detroit is no longer the “must-see” car show in the country. Recently New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have grown in size and importance. With the web greatly expanding media coverage, a single splash in Detroit to draw global news organizations is no longer the name of the game.
What do you think? Does it matter to you if Detroit is no longer the premier auto show on the circuit, or are you following all four of the big shows equally?
Suzuki to skip auto show (Detroit News)
Fuel prices are high and the popularity of small cars is on the rise. When we see which compact and economy cars are flying off the lots, we’re not surprised. Toyota takes two of the top three spots with its newly redesigned Corolla and Matrix, which had a full month of sales in April along with major advertising. Even so, neither broke the top 10 overall.
The losers aren’t doing terribly badly when you consider the average time to sell a new car or truck is 65 days.
Top 10 Movers
Automakers know what's on customers’ minds and what’s keeping them away from dealerships: the price of gas. On the heels of Chrysler's promotion guaranteeing car buyers pay no more than $2.99 a gallon over the next three years, Suzuki has introduced its own promotional fuel ploy.
Less ambitious, Suzuki is promising to pick up the entire cost of gas for the summer if you buy a Suzuki vehicle before June 30. You'll get 0% financing and a debit card good for three months of fuel, up to 1,000 miles driven per month. That means the value of the card is different depending on the vehicle you purchase.
Suzuki's plan differs in scope from Chrysler's, which immediately took a flogging from the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group that called the plan a "cynical deal" and an attempt to "fool customers." The group points out that if Chrysler increased the fuel economy of its vehicles by just 3 mpg, drivers would save $3,000 over the life of the vehicle rather than the roughly $400 over three years that it anticipates coming with the gas deal.
Read the value of Suzuki's gas debit card for each of its vehicles after the jump.
Suzuki’s compact SX4 was already a pretty value-oriented car. Now the company is upping the ante as it rolls out the new 2009s. Both the four-door SX4 Sport sedan and a newly available front-wheel-drive version of the hatchback will come with a touch-screen navigation unit as standard equipment. Final prices haven’t been announced, but the company says it will be under $16,000. The current Sport sedan starts at $14,770.
The navigation unit will come standard, but to get features like Bluetooth and real-time traffic, weather and gas prices, buyers will have to upgrade to a different trim package.
The other news we get from Suzuki is that the SX4 hatchback will now be available with front-wheel drive as an option, with all-wheel drive still considered standard. However, AWD almost always adds to the MSRP. For 2008, the AWD SX4 started at a low $15,270, making it the most affordable AWD car on the market. We’d guess the FWD crossover would be less.
2008 Suzuki SX4 Sport Expert Review (Cars.com)
2007 Suzuki SX4 AWD Crossover Expert Review (Cars.com)
Following the Concept Kizashi 1 and Kizashi 2 from last year's Frankfurt and Tokyo motor shows comes the Kizashi 3, which shares elements from both of the earlier cars and looks more like a real product. No coincidence there; Suzuki says the Kizashi 3 is on its way to becoming a real product. It will debut in Japan, where Suzuki says pre-production versions are already built. It is planned for the U.S. as a 2010 model.
The show car looks quite large, but the Kizashi 3 is technically a midsize sedan. The deep grille looks like yet another copy of Audi's new design direction, complete with a chrome cross-member. The car's a bit snub-nosed, similar to the Toyota Camry with which it would compete. The 21-inch wheels and tiny side mirrors are auto-show-only, but Suzuki says the concept is 90-95% of what the real product will look like — bold stuff. The interior is a mystery, because the concept's isn't representative and wasn't on display.
The car shown has all-wheel drive, based on front-wheel-drive architecture that Suzuki claims as its own even though it started its life as GM's Epsilon platform when the U.S. manufacturer owned roughly half of Suzuki. The car is powered by GM's relatively new 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6, which also appears in the Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Malibu, to name two models. It produces 300 hp here. The transmission is a six-speed automatic with paddle shifting.
Check out more photos below and let us know if you think Suzuki is ready to take on the Camry and Accord.
Information on what's going to appear at the New York auto show later this month continues to trickle in, with Suzuki announcing it will show its Concept Kizashi 3. Suzuki has shown two Kizashi concepts at previous overseas auto shows, and all three of the concepts will be in New York. The automaker says the Concept Kizashi 3 hints at what a sport sedan from Suzuki might look like. Let us know what you think of the sketch, and check back March 20 for additional info and images of the concept.
The Suzuki Equator midsize pickup trucks on display at the Chicago Auto Show are customized trucks, not the production versions that will arrive at Suzuki dealerships late this year. They do, however, exhibit the general shape of the truck, and it's a reasonably nice looking pickup — even if it does look a lot like the Toyota Tacoma.
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