Minneapolis Street Sighting: Suzuki Kizashi

As a kid growing up, I noticed all of the Japanese "orphan" brands, and quickly became a fan of most of them; I loved Mazda (and still do), Nissan had a place in my heart, Honda was awesome but made mostly boring cars where I was growing up, and obviously so did Toyota (aside from enthusiast favorites of course.) But there were two brands that quickly gained my respect, and always left me continually curious. Those two brands were Suzuki and Isuzu. And as I got older, I learned that both would share quite a bit in common.  More on that later.

When I was  a child, Suzuki, sold mostly SUVs, but here and there the company did sell cars; not many, though, as Suzuki was (and is) mostly known for producting cheap runabout, durable vehicles like the Sidekick/Vitara and the Samurai.  The firm also produced cars, too, and unfortunately those are mostly forgotten--and seldom seen.

In the 1990s, the Swift 3 door and 4 door held down the minicompact spot in the lineup (as well as being cloned into the Geo Metro), and the later on, and Esteem was added. That little car was replaced by the Aerio sedan and hatchback. Fast forward to 2007 and the Suzuki car lineup had been dwindled to one--enter the SX4. It came (like the Aerio) as a four-door sedan, and a five-door hatchback/SUV with available AWD for snow climates and wet roads. All the while, Suzuki still gave the US its Vitara SUV as well.

But, dealer networking (and the GM empire) was not kind to Suzuki. Dwindling sales figures and sparse availablity hindered the automakers chances even more; but the struggling Japanese firm wasn't ready to bow out of the United States just yet. They wanted to prove that building a midsize car wasn't completely out of their Forte. (Sorry, Kia).

The Kizashi came out in the fall of 2009 as a 2010 model, and from the start, sales were slow; unfortunately the cause for slow sales is the result of a variety of factors. Due to slow sales projections, Suzuki's dealer network was already compromised as it is, and during the later part of the 2000s, GM was in turmoil. The company treated Suzuki as a has-ran, and as a result, Suzuki didn't have the budget it needed to run successful ad campaigns. This, combined with an ever-shrinking dealer network could only mean one thing.

Add to this mess, the vehicle wasn't quite midsize, and it wasn't quite compact either. That spells success, if the market is indeed a European country. However, Americans wouldn't buy into this new category, much less so at a price that was deemed "too high" from the getgo.  For $18,999 ("NEW MIDSIZE SEDAN STARTING UNDER $19,000" was the headline that was fixed to full-page ads for these), consumers could enter the cabin of a base model, but options pushed the price closer to $28,000. Not exactly the kind of cash consumers were willing to part with for a brand not very many people know about.

Besides having a crap dealer network, and the peculiar sizing of the vehicle, the amenities weren't bad; sure, it lacked a V6, but the Kizashi had something many non-premium sedans lacked: all wheel drive. This means that in wintry climates, the car is the go-to family sedan for families on a budget.  I only see the top-spec models out driving, but I have seen one base model with hubcaps. I wonder if that model had the six-speed stick?

Moot point, because the only base model I saw was given a nice facelift courtesy of a row of plastic newspaper boxes. Sadly, the Kizashi name fits both that particular car, and the whole Kizashi lineup in general; according to Wikipedia, the name "kizashi" translates to either "sign of things to come" or "omen". Truth be told, the Kizashi was a sign of things to come--just not for the US market. The name also fits as "omen" because, due to slow sales, this marked Suzuki's last real endeavor into the US car market.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Suzuki Samurai

It's been known I have a fasciniation with Japanese vehicles from the 1980s; I grew up with them, and even the duds seem like heroes to me. Case in point, the Suzuki Samurai. Consumer Reports rated it the worst SUV they'd driven up to the point--and even today, Motorweek said it was decent, but was very, very noisy at speed, and Top Gear USA destroyed in the name of proving that it was indeed one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road.
But when it came out, Suzuki had a big presence in the emerging Japanese 4x4 market. Names like Daihatsu and Isuzu were often cross-shopped with Suzuki's pint-size offroader. In 1989, the Sidekick joined the fray, making the decision a tad tougher. Slow sales and the Consumer Reports lawsuit, combined with strict safety regulations prompted Suzuki to withdraw the Samurai from the US lineup in 1995. During it's nine year run, it received so much as minute changes to color and interior spec. Nothing else was changed, partially keep the price at an entry-level, especially for off-roaders.
While it's not quite a "classic" by today's standards, the little Suzuki does have a cult following--sort of. In the 4x4 world, these are often the choice for beginner builds, or enthusiasts seeking a lightweight rig that doesn't require much in term of weight reduction.
As one can see, this example is not stock, paint-wise. I don't quite care for the cammo, but it's better than being covered in a plethora of rust holes, I suppose. I'm saddened that this was done to a rather straight example with no obvious signs of damage, rust or otherwise. The badges peeked out under the paint, and they begged to be stripped clean. As did the wheels, which appear to have been hastily painted with Krylon. I realize this is probably the beginning for a budget mud-truck, but damn. Be original for Pete's sake. It's not that hard to build an off-roader if you have any sort of imagination.
All in all, this Samurai is in decent condition, but I wish it was spared the cammo-paint. This isn't Kansas, and these aren't "just a furrin piece of crap".