Photos of my 2007 Suzuki Forenza Wagon

See photos of my 2007 Absolute White Suzuki Forenza Wagon with Convenience Package, Automatic Transmission, and several SWT ( "Suzuki Works Techno" ) accessories:

Set 1: 2007 Forenza Wagon SWT

Set 2: 2007 Forenza Wagon SWT

Suzukiphile.com

There haven't been many (if any) regularly updated American Suzuki news blogs out there, so go check out www.suzukiphile.com if you're a Suzuki fan with a need for news!

Suzuki Forenza Gets Thumbs Up from HispanicBusiness.com

Since reviews for the Suzuki Forenza are rare now that the car has been out for years without major changes, I'm always on the lookout for a review. HispanicBusiness.com made an unusual move of combining two different vehicles together into one review: The Forenza and the recently introduced all-wheel-drive SX4. Overall the review was positive for the Forenza, not so much for the SX4. Here are some noteworthy quotes:

"Suzukis are popular vehicles in the Hispanic market."

"The Forenza comes through with what seems like oceans of legroom. That and a surprisingly smooth ride lets the Forenza travel long distances in relative comfort."

"SX4 lack cruise control and that's good. It's not a highway cruiser. It's a city commuter with scant inside room. The driver and passenger are very cozy and the backseat offers less room."

"Like SX4, the Forenza also serves plenty of notice if it's driven too hard into curves. Yet it feels livelier in traffic than the 10.5 seconds 0-60 would indicate."

One complaint about the Forenza from the article that I agree with is the lack of ABS standard. This can be forgiven somewhat since the Forenza has disc brakes all around. But the problem is not just that it isn't standard equipment, its that the Forenza can't be ordered with ABS in conjunction with any other package, apparently. To get ABS you have to get a base Forenza, forego the cruise control and other Convenience Package & Popular Package luxuries, and get ABS as a rather pricey separate option. Its a bit bizarre - like ABS cannot coexist with some of the other options for some reason.

That said, I've driven plenty of cars without ABS and never thought a thing of it. And all of them had rear drum brakes. With the Forenza you get so much standard that something like this really stands out, perhaps more than it should. I'm thinking that it's not going to matter in the end, from the mouths of Forenza owners at Suzuki-Forums.com who say they've never felt their Forenzas were unsafe during hard braking.

But back to the review. Anyway, its good to see the Forenza still winning kudos after having been on the market for so long. KIA and Hyundai are now offering some stiff competition, however, and aside from the still very affordable "long" wagon (as opposed to the hatchbacks some companies are passing off as "wagons" these days) the Forenza is due for an update to stay in the game.

Forenza sales were down recently after carrying Suzuki's sales for some years now, and are not setting the kinds of records they were before, and I can only think that this is due to the new product from KIA/Hyundai. Unfortunately for Suzuki, as this review shows, the SX4 while new is not a good "replacement" for the Forenza, and I fear the SX4 sedan will also be more of an Aerio replacement.

It will be interesting to see how the Forenza fares in the months and years to come, and whether or not it will get any upgrades from GM Daewoo.

Source for full article/review

Q&A With “Rick” Suzuki

DEBBIE KELLEY of the Gazette recently had an interview with The Ryosaku "Rick" Suzuki. He's the chairman of American Suzuki Motor Corp. and is the grandson of the Japanese automaker’s founder, Osamu Suzuki. See the link below for the full interview. A snippet is below. If anything, this interview proves that Suzuki is on a roll and intends to keep rolling. Rumors of Suzuki going all out to produce a "full" lineup of cars (with or without GM Daewoo or Nissan's help, that is still unclear) would correspond with the very ambitious goal of doubling sales to 200,000 per year.

Source: Colorado Springs Gazette (gazette.com)

Q: American Suzuki has been setting sales records, including March’s 11,030 cars sold nationwide. Last year, new Suzuki sales topped 100,000 for the first time in the company’s 22-year history. And sales of 27,794 vehicles in the first quarter of 2007 surpassed last year’s firstquarter total. To what do you attribute the increased sales?
A: Our products are leading us. Suzuki is liked for its small cars, and there is much demand for cars that are economical in fuel and price. But our larger vehicles also are doing well, the XL7, with available seven-passenger seating, and the Grand Vitara.

Q: What’s your strongest market in the world?
A: Few Americans know we outsell Honda in Japan. We are No. 1 in sales in India. We also are popular in Pakistan and the Caribbean. Our manufacturing plant in Hungary is doing very well.

Q: What’s your company’s goal?
A: To reach 200,000 new cars in annual sales, as soon as possible.

Source Link: http://www.gazette.com/articles/suzuki_21659___article.html/company_sales.html

The GM Daewoo Enthusiast ... in English?

What to do if you're a fan of GM Daewoo and you live outside of Korea and can't read Korean? Hey, hey, no jokes about "What Daewoo Fans?" and Bobby Lee's "Tank" character from Mad TV, please... (hehe)

Anyway, since Daewoo as a brand left the global stage for the most part several years ago and became GM Daewoo, it might not be as easy as it once was to find small start-up enthusiast sites in English.

Since it is still possible to buy Daewoo-built cars even in the U.S. today, or if you have an older model, where can you go to read what fellow enthusiasts have to say?

Internationally, GM Daewoo product is now sold under the Chevrolet, Holden, Buick and Suzuki brands. Grilles and emblems are swapped out along with some minor equipment changes or different displacement engines, but they remain GM Daewoo cars underneath the thin disguises. The Taiwanese Buick Excelle is one of the rare examples of taking it further than a "rebadge" and re-doing the entire front end. The mainland China Excelle (for now at least) looks like any of the other Lacetti rebadges.

True fans of automobiles still know what cars in their favorite brands are manufactured by GM Daewoo, even if they wear the badge of another auto maker. Interestingly, even Korean fans of Daewoo have some idea of this as it is proudly stated on the GM Daewoo website with Chevrolet, Buick and Suzuki logos.

Daewoo Tech is a site that has sporadic updates to its main page and some severely outdated posts mixed in with new ones, but appears to be one of the top sites for Daewoo enthusiasts outside of Korea. The emphasis is heavy on the Chevrolet Lacetti and WTCC Lacetti Racing Program: http://www.daewootech.com/cms/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

The Suzuki Forenza & Reno Forum is currently the most popular part of www.Suzuki-Forums.com . Of course, "Forenza" is Suzuki's name for the Lacetti, and "Reno" is the 5-door hatchback. The members of suzuki-forums are not unaware of this, and you'll find general Lacetti-related posts mixed in with the Suzuki-specific ones. A member there " Kinkyllama " has taken a Forenza sedan and seriously tuned it for performance, and has some videos of himself racing at the track along with many photos and how-to type posts. I think he also runs a small business obtaining and custom making parts that should be compatible with Canadian Chevrolet Optras and other Lacetti-based cars powered with the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine.

There may be more sites, and if you know of one or more I encourage you to post them in the "comments" here!

Next Suzuki Verona caught in California: Spy Shots

From the The Car Blogger @ Blogspot:

GMDAT and Suzuki share alot of components and it seems that the partnership will continue on with these latest shots of what appears to be the Daewoo Tosca with Suzuki badges spotted in Southern California. Suzuki suffered poor sales from its rebadged product of the Daewoo Magnus mid-size sedan, which was introduced for the 2004 model year. Both the Chevrolet Epica sales in Canada and Suzuki Verona sales were discontinued for the 2007 model year.
Last year, GM Daewoo introduced the Tosca, the successor of the Magnus that spawned a different name in South Korea. It was also an in-house design, different to its predecessor which was designed by Giugiaro Designs. Not long after the ceremonious debut, Chevrolet introduced their rebadged variant of the Tosca, consisting of the Epica name. It was intended for European markets only. Nonetheless, it sparked alot of rumours of Suzuki introducing their variant of the Epica and reintroducing it in North America.

[Source: CarSpyShots.net]


Car Blogger / More Photos, Information: http://thecarblogger.blogspot.com/2007/03/spy-shots-next-suzuki-verona-caught-in.html

Suzuki Sales & Production Ramp Up; GM's 1-year Stake Buyback Deadline to be Deferred

Suzuki to raise 2007 sales 8% on overseas demand - company may keep GM's 17% stake longer
25 Jan 2007bbj.hu

Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan's fourth-largest automaker, plans to raise sales 8% this year as overseas demand for its compact cars rises, will increase production capacity in Hungary.
The company plans to sell 2.35 million vehicles in 2007, compared with 2.17 million last year, Suzuki said in a release today. Domestic vehicle sales including minicars will fall 3% to 675,000, while overseas sales will rise 13% to 1.68 million. Chairman Osamu Suzuki will spend ¥1 trillion ($8.3 billion) for the five years ending March 2010 to expand global production, as models including the SX4 and Swift compact cars attract more buyers.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo today, Osamu Suzuki said he's not worried about Daihatsu replacing Suzuki as the biggest minicar maker as long as his company's total production is growing. The chairman, who turns 77 next week, also said he plans to keep his position „as long as I'm alive.”

Industry-wide sales of minicars, powered by engines no larger than 0.66 liters, rose 5.2% in Japan to a record 2.02 million vehicles in 2006, according to the Japan Mini Vehicles Association. Sales may drop 3.1% to 1.96 million this year, the group said. Suzuki, which released two new minicar designs in 2006, had a 30.2% share of Japan's mini-vehicle market last year. Daihatsu, a unit of Toyota Motor Corp., plans to raise minicar sales at home 3.3% to 620,000 units, the company said in December, introduced three new models, and had a 29.7% market share.

Suzuki plans to open a new plant next year to build only compact cars, in Sagara City, near its head office. The company has been trimming its minicar production in Japan since September.
General Motors Corp., the world's largest carmaker, in March 2006 reduced its stake in Suzuki to 3% from 20%, by selling a 17% stake to Suzuki Motor for 230 billion yen. Suzuki said at that time it would hold the 17% stake for a year to give GM the option of buying it back. Osamu Suzuki said today his company may keep the stake longer. „We agreed to keep a good long-term strategic partnership,” he said, referring to a November meeting with GM CEO Rick Wagoner. „So we don't need to stick with the deadline.” GM and Suzuki have partnerships including joint production in Canada and co-development of fuel-cell cars and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.

Source:
http://www.bbj.hu/main/news_21780_suzuki+to+raise+2007+sales+8%2525+on+overseas+demand+-+extended.html