87 Suzuki Samurai on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 2005 Suzuki Verona

The ways of the far-flung GM Empire could be mysterious, a couple of decades back, especially when Daewoo and/or Suzuki were involved. After The General's (relative) success selling the Daewoo LeMans with Pontiac badges here, Daewoo decided to bring three models to the United States with its own badging: the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza. Unfortunately for that effort, Daewoo's CEO fled South Korea to evade embezzlement and fraud charges just as the first models hit American showrooms in 1999, and the company went bankrupt soon after. The last year for the trio of Daewoo-badged models here was 2002… but we weren't done with those cars yet! Today's Junkyard Gem is an example of the next-generation Leganza, found in a Denver-area self-service wrecking yard recently. GM began selling Suzuki cars in North America with the Chevrolet Sprint (aka Suzuki Cultus) in 1985. The following year, Suzuki began importing the Jimny with Suzuki Samurai badging. Many Suzukis followed over the next quarter-century, with Chevrolet, Geo and Suzuki branding applied along the way. Since GM bought all of Daewoo's car-building operations during the chaos of the early 2000s, it made sense to keep selling the descendants of the three Daewoo models that had been offered here. They'd have made sense as Geos, but the Geo brand got the axe after 1997. Saturn? For Opels, sure, but not Daewoos. Isuzu had gone all-truck here after the final Styluses and Storms left the showrooms as 1993 models (though the Honda Odyssey was sold here with Isuzu emblems), so that was out. So, Chevrolet and Suzuki got the honors. The next-generation Daewoo Lanos subcompact became the Chevrolet Aveo, the next-generation Daewoo Nubira compact became the Suzuki Reno, and the next-generation Daewoo Leganza midsize sedan became the Suzuki Verona. The Verona was available for just the 2004 through 2006 model years. Note that the dealership decal features the Pets.com Sock Puppet. That's because the now-defunct 1-800-Bar-None company bought the rights to the Sock Puppet in 2002 (two years after Pets.com went kerblooey as the highest-profile casualty of the Dot-Com Crash) and used it in their advertising. All Leganzas had four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels, but the Verona got this very unusual longitudinally-mounted straight-six rig. It thus joins the Volvo S80 in the elite club for this powertrain setup.

Suzuki previews Crosshiker, X-Lander, Hustler ahead of Tokyo

With the Tokyo Motor Show looming on the horizon, Suzuki has revealed a trio of concept cars it will present at the expo.
First up is the Crosshiker concept, a compact crossover that looks good enough in metallic red, but in its essence reminds us of the oft-maligned X-90 convertible crossover coupe. Based on the G70/Regina concept, the Crosshiker packs a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine into a compact form that weighs just 1,785 pounds.
Next comes the X-Lander, which strikes us as a smaller take on the formula espoused by the Isuzu VX-02 or Land Rover DC100 Sport concepts. Unfortunately based on the Jimny, the white X-Lander incorporates a 1.3-liter engine with a robotized manual and four-wheel drive into a high-riding, chopped-windshield convertible sport-ute form.

Suzuki heads rolling over fuel economy scandal

Suzuki Motor Corporation executives admitted last month that the company had been falsifying fuel-economy tests for some of its vehicles. Today, it was announced that chairman Osamu Suzuki will not become CEO and executive vice president Osamu Honda will step down from his position at the next shareholder meeting, which takes place June 29. Executive bonuses for 2015 will also be eliminated or cut in half. The company is also promising to change its corporate culture so as to allow whistle blowers to get their messages heard. "Suzuki has a top-down culture and it's been difficult for voices from lower down to go to the management," Toshihiro Suzuki (Osamu's son) told reporters, according to Bloomberg. Both Suzuki family members will take a pay cut for the last half of 2016 (Osamu at 40 percent, Toshihiro at 30). Over 2 million Suzuki vehicles were involved in the fuel economy fakery. Japan's transport ministry is taking a closer look at company-submitted data after Mitsubishi and then Suzuki were found to have misled regulators and the public. Related Video: News Source: BloombergImage Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Suzuki Fuel Efficiency resignation osamu suzuki