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Incentives aid smooth Suzuki wind down

American Suzuki is continuing to offer buyers substantial incentives even as the company winds down operations. Those looking to nab a new Suzuki vehicle will find rebates of between $500 and $2,000 and zero-percent financing for up to 72 months as dealers look to liquidate inventory following the automaker's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. The strategy is working so far. Last month saw Suzuki sell a total of 2,224 vehicles, up 22 percent compared to the same time period in 2011. The Japanese manufacturer says it will continue the incentives through December.
Suzuki had around 5,000 units in dealer inventory in the US when it went into bankruptcy protection, with an additional 1,500-1,700 vehicles headed to dealers at that time. The company says it will continue to honor warranties moving forward using its current dealer network. Most of the dealerships will become Suzuki service and parts stores after American Suzuki shutters car sales in the US.

2019 Suzuki Jimny First Drive Review | Internet darling, real-world riot

FRANKFURT — Imagine a Mercedes G-Wagen hit with an incredible shrinking ray, and you'll not be far short of the new fouth-generation Suzuki Jimny, last sold in North America in the mid-1990s as the Samurai. The resemblance is astonishing, but there's enough of the Land Rover Defender, Toyota FJ, Honda Element and Jeep Wrangler in there, too, to keep Merc's copyright lawyers sitting on their hands. Cute as a family of otters in your bath, the new Jimny's proving the social-media hit of the fall, with online fan clubs starting, splintering and re-forming as they argue over which of the six new body colors is their favorite. Yet Jimny's no style pony. That lime green 'Kinetic Yellow' color might be the ultimate urban accessory, but it's formulated to make this tiny utility stand out in bad weather and on building sites. And in a world of fragile multi-clutch-based all-wheel-drive crossovers, Jimny is the real deal: body-on-frame construction, coil-sprung solid axles with three-link location at the rear and a panhard rod at the front, and a transfer-box set of crawler gears. And with entry, exit and breakover angles and ground clearance to rival that of a mountain ibex; this is a proper all-terrain automobile, just at five-eighths scale. It all started of course with Hope: the Japanese Hope Motor Company. Its OM360 was a 1960s Lilliputian take on the World War II Willys MB Jeep. Suzuki bought the design from Hope, and relaunched it with a new engine in 1970 as the first Jimny. Through three generations and 48 years, Jimny's been called variously: SJ; LJ; Farm Worker; Samurai; Gypsy; and Sierra. It's been rebadged as a Mazda and a Maruti, and has sold a total of 2.85 million across 194 countries, including at one time America, though the company pulled out of the U.S. car market in 2012. The outgoing third-generation Jimny had lost its way with a bland, wind-cheating design. The new Jimny is back to basics. Shortened by 1.2 inches, it's now 143.5 inches long, 64.8 inches wide, 67.9 inches high and runs on an 88.6-inch wheelbase. These bonsai dimensions are dictated by the Japanese Kei car, a size and taxation class aimed at tight urban spaces. The new car also gets a stronger, cross-braced ladder frame under the separate body isolated on eight rubber bobbins.

It's a hard knock life for a N"urburgring rental car

Rental cars get no respect. They're abused, misused and flogged mercilessly as athletes in Rental Car Olympics. And that's just at your everyday airport rental counter. The torture gets extreme for rental cars thrashed around Germany's infamous Nürburgring.
Rent4Ring expects its customers to drive its cars around the 'Ring with enthusiasm and, in some cases, less skill than the pros. Rent4Ring just recently retired its Suzuki Swift Sport from its fleet and shared the car's two-year-plus lifetime highlights.
The little hatchback made more than 2,800 laps of the 'Ring over three seasons amounting to more than 310,000 miles driven by 457 different drivers. "Some were fast, some were slow. Some were nice to the car, a few were frankly awful," says a Rent4Ring rep.