Posts Tagged ‘Suzuki’

Recall list grows- Suzuki, Nissan and Daihatsu

Suzuki Every – Air con problems could cause fire

Barely few days after IAB remarked that more recalls are expected (Read – Now Hyundai recall the Sonata in US and Korea), the industry appears to be proving us right.

If you look at the faults that we have seen over these recalls, a majority of them are to do with systems or designs that have become complex with technology advancement or generations.

This raises three questions -

A/ Are testing methods for new technologies and mechanical designs insufficient? Is it a case of car makers compromising on passenger safety in a race to introduce new technology and designs in the market?

B/ Are existing safety/ testing regulations inadequate? We know of the stringent crash tests (like Euro NCAP, incidentally this rewards cars that employ electronic stability control and speed control) but what about technologies like the air con and steering systems? Is it time to create a regulation on these designs?

C/ Can mechanical designs and technologies such as Airbags, ABS, ESP etc be standardized? Take F1 for example. The McLaren ECU is standardized for all teams. This helps F1 and FIA regulate all cars. In my opinion standardization is the way to the future. It reduces development and testing costs. All manufacturers can then compete on the actual competitive factors of automobiles (i.e Product design, engine performance and value proposition).Just a thought to car makers.

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Entry posted on March 1st, 2010 and filed under Nissan, Suzuki

VW to acquire stake in Suzuki; will use its support in India

Suzuki_Splash_Hungary_1

If you were an automaker and you had grand plans for India, which auto manufacturer would you look to partner with?

The answer is the obvious. And VW also agrees.

Rumors of a possible tie-up between VW and Suzuki were confirmed by a popular German publication which has quoted an unnamed Suzuki official. The report goes on to say Suzuki will have access to VW’s technology in exchange for Suzuki’s resources in India and other South East Asian markets which will enable it to get a good start.

Suzuki Official -

“For Suzuki and VW this connection would be a win-win situation. Suzuki would have access to a variety of VW’s technology, while Volkswagen would have a solid supporting leg in India and Southeast Asia.”

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Entry posted on September 21st, 2009 and filed under Suzuki, Volkswagen

Suzuki’s entry-level commuter next fiscal; also plans 1000cc Gixxer

Suzuki GSXR1000

Suzuki Motorcycle India will launch an entry-level motorcycle in the next fiscal year.

Entry-level motorcycles are those with engine capacities more than 75 cc and less than 125 cc. Even a layman knows this segment is dictated by Hero Honda, who has 80% of the pie in its lunch box.

In the next fiscal, Suzuki will also import completely built units (CBUs) of its 1,000 cc GSX-R model encouraged by the success of the Hayabusa and Intruder, which cost Rs 12.5 lakhs each, and together sold about 100 units since their launch 8 months ago.

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Entry posted on August 31st, 2009 and filed under Suzuki

Volkswagen could take Suzuki’s help in making budget small cars

Volkswagen could take Suzuki’s help in making budget small cars

Thanks to its expertise in small cars, Suzuki has been the second largest car maker in Japan and its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki has a 54 % market share in India.

Tata Motors’ Nano priced at around $3,500 has also provoked great interest across the globe. Car makers are following the footsteps of the Indian car maker in making something similar.

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Entry posted on June 29th, 2009 and filed under Small cars, Volkswagen

Suzuki Kizashi spied once again; we like what we see

Suzuki Kizashi spied once again; we like what we see

We are not bored of the Suzuki Kizashi, not yet.

The D-Segment model billed as the Cruze to Camry challenger will attract eyeballs once it reaches roads, regardless of the latitude and longitude.

The Kizashi sedan will reach destination India by 2011, by then people would have given up on the existing line of cars which fall on the other side of 10 lakh rupees.

Spied near Arizona, this is a production car which we infer by the lack of any major camouflage or ill-fitting components. The interiors are of quality unseen in Suzuki’s products. The centre console imitates the front-end design and is made of high quality materials.

click through for the spy shots

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Entry posted on June 14th, 2009 and filed under Maruti Suzuki Kizashi, Spy pictures, Suzuki

New Suzuki Alto to go on sale in UK next month

New Suzuki Alto to go on sale in UK next month

The new Suzuki Alto (Indian A-Star) is ready to go on sale in the UK from the 1st of March and from where else will the car be sourced? Maruti Suzuki will export the first few Euro-spec units from right here in India (remember that the A-Star is not made anywhere else in the world). The base version will carry an on-road price tag of £6,795.

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Entry posted on February 12th, 2009 and filed under Suzuki

Suzuki Kizashi- The most confused car in the history of Automobiles

Suzuki Kizashi- The most confused car in the history of Automobiles

Is this the best form of advertising by a company which will release it’s first up-market car in a short while? Is this a large-scale example of utter confusion and chaos? Or is this is a neat display to show a company’s decision making skills is as efficient as a 5-year old’s. Welcome everyone, to Suzuki, or what we Indians affectionately refer to as Maruti Suzuki.

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Entry posted on January 19th, 2009 and filed under Maruti Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki Kizashi, Suzuki

Suzuki A-Star Bags Zigwheels COTY Award

Suzuki A-Star Bags Zigwheels COTY Award

The Latest offering from Suzuki’s stable – The Maruti A-star, re-badged as Pixo in Euro markets and Alto in others, has bagged its first Car Of The Year Award from Zig Wheels.

The A-star will be sold in markets such as Australia later in 2009 and will be named as ‘Alto’. The Alto we know of is the different model, in the previous generation car in the Alto lineup, which turns out to be India’s best selling car as of now.

Chief judge Adil Jal Darukhanawala was impressed by the well designed small cars, which is frugal, simple, reliable and efficient. The judges were very enthusiastic about the A-Star’s all new 1.0-litre engine.

“The car doesn’t break any new ground in absolute power and torque, but in its actual delivery in terms of acceleration from standstill, in-gear driveability and top speed it is the proverbial David with the wherewithal to massacre many Goliaths.”

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Entry posted on January 10th, 2009 and filed under Suzuki

Spied: Crash test of 2009-2010 Suzuki Kizashi in Japan

Spied: Crash test of 2009-2010 Suzuki Kizashi in Japan

The 2009-2010 Suzuki Kizashi has made earlier appearances when it was masked heavily under vinyl padding and when it was spotted sporting zebra stripes at the Nurburgring. Now, we have pictures of the Kizashi in a very distorted form – a crash test, to be precise. The 2009-2010 Suzuki Kizashi is eager to attack [...]

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Entry posted on November 16th, 2008 and filed under Maruti Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki Kizashi, Spy pictures, Suzuki

Diwali Offer? Maruti cars costlier by upto Rs.6,000

The recent worldwide economic crisis as we know, has had a severe impact on Automobile manufacturers. So severe that, Market leaders like Maruti have been forced to hike the prices of select models, before Diwali – during when they normally offer discounts! The rising steel prices has taken its toll on all car makers [...]

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Entry posted on October 26th, 2008 and filed under Announcements, Maruti Suzuki

Hydrogen powered motorcycle- First of its kind

Hydrogen powered motorcycle- First of its kind

A group of scientists at the Loughborough University demonstrated the ENV, the worlds – the world’s first ever hydrogen-powered motorbike. Yup, you heard it right, hydrogen it is. The bikes look like they came from the future and that’s good as it will take at least half a decade for these to hit the road.

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Entry posted on October 14th, 2008 and filed under Bikes, Hydrogen Vehicles

Suzuki Alto production halts in China- Don’t even think about it happening here

Changan Suzuki (Maruti counterpart of Shanghai), has confirmed that it has halted production of the existing Alto model back in July itself. This is to pave way for the next generation Alto model due to hit the roads in next September in China.
We won’t and can’t expect Maruti to follow suite and discontinue production [...]

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Entry posted on October 13th, 2008 and filed under Announcements, Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki

Suzuki eyes Weight Reduction in future cars

Suzuki considers the concept of ‘lighter, faster, better’ for achieving optimum efficiency in its cars. As an initiative, Suzuki recently launched the ‘one component, one gram’ drive in Istanbul, which aims at reducing the weight of each of the cars’ components by a gram and thereby bringing down the overall weight of the car. [...]

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Entry posted on October 8th, 2008 and filed under Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki