America’s top selling Suzuki dealer is switching it up with a much more popular brand. Wichita Suzuki has begun selling Subaru cars as it prepares for the end of the Suzuki era in America.

(Read More…)

1998 Pontiac Rageous

All good things, even obscure and maybe even not so good, must come to an end. You can see previous installments of the Encyclopedia of Obscure Concept and Show Cars here, here, here, and here.

Oldsmobile, Packard, Plymouth. Another dead brand with obscure concept cars in this part of the alphabet is Pontiac. This is their Rageous concept from 1997, another proto-CUV, and what some have called “the Aztek that should have been”. Imagine a four door Trans Am (the rear doors are suicide style like on the RX-8 Mazda) with  a hatchback and a flat load floor that will accommodate a 4X8 sheet of plywood. A ’90s vintage LT1 and a Corvette based rear suspension completed the package, which of course had Pontiac’s supernumerary nostrils from that era. Actually, the Rageous isn’t that obscure. Mattel’s Hot Wheels released their own version of it in 1999 and reissued it at least 8 times since then. Like the Jeep Jeepster concept, if you’re a Gen Y’er, or a baby boomer who collects Hot Wheels you may actually remember the Pontiac Rageous. (Read More…)

Not many cars appear and disappear while leaving as little trace as did the Suzuki Aerio, which was sold in the United States for the 2002-2007 model years. Normally, I ignore such new cars when I’m wandering around the wrecking yards of Denver, but I’ll break out the camera when I find something of historical significance— for example, an example of the final year of the GM J-body’s 24-year run— or when I see a car that doesn’t seem to exist on the street any more. This Aerio is such a car. (Read More…)

Irony is a cruel mistress. Just as Suzuki’s American auto sales arm is winding down, the newest version of the SX4 was revealed at Geneva, and it doesn’t look bad at all – save for the awful snot green shade.

(Read More…)

The 30 year run of Suzuki auto sales in the United States is one step closer to coming to an end, as a California bankruptcy court approved Suzuki’s restructuring plans.

(Read More…)

Not the real car Rick owned, but pretty much the same thing,

It was 1984. Van Halen, Iron Maiden, and the Scorpions were on the radio stations I listened to, while Prince, Wham, and some guy named Michael Jackson were on the stations I avoided. I was a young punk and I ran with a fast crowd. Whatever, I was into fast.

(Read More…)

My grandma was a bit of a card shark. You name the game, she played it.

You would think that she would show a teeny bit of mercy to a six year old kid like me back in the day. Nope. Not a chance. Whenever she was about to beat me… yet again… grandma would flash an ear to ear grin on her face and bellow out her trademarked version of checkmate.

“Stevie? Do you want the old news? Or the bad news?”

I would flash my own waning innocence in these matters and say, “What about no news?”

No news, indeed. If you are looking to find yet another new name to take on pole position in our weekly mileage race, think again.

(Read More…)

Despite our relentless Death Watch against Suzuki, the company decided to throw TTAC a bone by displaying a brown Grand Vitara at the Canadian International Auto Show.

This is actually one of two shades of brown available on the GV. While you can no longer get a rear-drive or stick shift configuration on the GV like in days past, it’s nice to know that someone is listening to some, if not all of our prayers.

It must be Suzuki Day. Fresh off pictures from our resident Chinese spy, Suzuki has released some pictures of the upcoming S-Cross C-segment all-wheel-driver.

(Read More…)

While the US won’t get the Suzuki SX4 any more, the flow of cars isn’t being cut off from Canada. Might we see this facelifted version of the SX4 (meant for the Chinese market) appear in the Great White North? The Canadian International Auto Show is only a couple weeks away, but we’ve got no indication about Suzuki debuting anything new at the show. Only time will tell.

It’s time to make a confession to the good folks at TTAC.

The mileage game is rigged.

How so? Well, approximately two-thirds of the vehicles that reach the 300k+ mark  at an auction I attend will usually belong in one of four categories.

(Read More…)

Kizashi Beats Camry! No, it’s not a reprise of Dewey Beats Truman, but the Suzuki Kizashi landed a parting shot against mid-size kingpin the Toyota Camry, soundly beating it in the latest round of IIHS crash testing.

(Read More…)

Suzuki’s booth at the Toronto Motorcycle Show had a nice surprise amidst all the GSX-Rs and big cruisers. A 2013 Grand Vitara, sporting a new facelift and a brown paint scheme.

(Read More…)

Suzuki’s death rattle continues unabated as the company’s American distribution arm will receive $100 million in financing, half of which is earmarked to purchase inventory from parent company Suzuki Motor Corp.

(Read More…)

Only 6 dealers haven’t taken a buyout offer from Suzuki – of the 219 Suzuki dealers in America, 213 took the offer from American Suzuki, including the top 50 dealers by volume.

(Read More…)