Report: Suzuki to Introduce New Mid-Size Car in North America by 2009

1 June 2006

According to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Suzuki Motor plans to develop a new midsize passenger car for the North American market to capitalize on what appears to be an on-going shift from larger cars to more fuel-efficient models amid soaring crude oil and fuel prices.

Suzuki will launch the car, with an engine displacement of around 2 liters, as early as 2009, and is targeting sales of more than 100,000 units a year. The car, an entry-level model aimed at families, will be manufactured in Japan and priced at approximately US$15,000 dollars.

In North America, Suzuki currently sells SUVs and cars supplied on an OEM basis by GM Daewoo in Korea. While Suzuki is considering plans to strengthen its partnership with Nissan by increasing the number of minicars it supplies and also procuring midsize cars from Nissan, it also wants to develop a car independently and position it as its flagship product in North America. In the summer it will also unveil a new SUV for North America and is shooting for sales of 250,000 units there by fiscal 2009.

Suzuki is experiencing rising sales of its small cars in emerging nations such as India and in Europe. Suzuki’s Indian production and distribution subsidiary Maruti Udyog,for example, hit record sales with more than 61,200 units of the Swift sold in its first year—the best performance yet for a first-year car in the country—far exceeding the original sales plan of 50,000 units.

The Swift is one of Suzuki’s world strategic models and has been produced in 4 countries: Japan, Hungary, India, and China.