Doesn't their line-up consist of...
- A rebadged Chev Malibu (the 'Kizachi')?
- An outdated SUV with a most generic Japanese name (Grand Vitara)?
- An outdated microcar with a chopped-off tail that looks fugly (the Suzuki SX-4)?
- A rebadged Nissan Frontier V6 (Equator)?
No wonder they're kicking ***** and taking names. Not like their cars had any resale to begin with. I'd only buy one of those cars for 70% of MSRP or less.
Nothing wrong with those cars - or the cars they're based off of. But it's not like they're adding anything to the landscape per se.
The Kizashi is a proper Suzuki. It most certainly has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the GM Epsilon platform (Malibu, etc).
IIRC the Grand Vitara XL7 shares the previous-generation GM Chevrolet Equinox / GMC Terrain platform and uses the GM "high feature" V6 engine. The regular Grand Vitara has some GM engineering and parts in it but is a rather different vehicle.
The SX-4 is a real Suzuki. But it's also sold in Europe as a Fiat Sedici. It's a Suzuki design, though.
The Equator is indeed a badge engineered Nissan, but it isn't sold in Canada.
Suzuki has rid themselves of the old Daewoos that were badged as Suzukis ... but they haven't rid themselves of the damage that did to their name and reputation.
Aren't some of GM's little soccer ball cars rebadged Suzukis?
No ... It's complicated.
Back when GM had substantial ownership of Suzuki, they replaced a lot of the "proper" Suzuki vehicles in the North American market with re-badged Daewoos. (Daewoo is GM Korea.) At the same time, they sold a number of those vehicles with Chevrolet badges on them. All of those vehicles were garbage, and this ruined what little reputation that Suzuki had in North America. When GM got out, Suzuki stopped selling Daewoos and replaced them with real Suzukis ... but the damage was done. GM has kept right on selling Daewoos with their own badges on them. But to be absolutely clear, these are not Suzukis, even though they were sold under that name at one time. They are Daewoos.
The Chevrolet Aveo was a Daewoo. It was sold at the same time as a Suzuki Swift in North America. But this was not the "real" Suzuki Swift that the rest of the world got. That was one of the big reputation-destroyers.
FWIW the replacement for the Aveo is the Chevrolet Sonic, which is assembled in North America but still using a lot of GM Korea engineering and parts (and is a much better vehicle). It's still sold elsewhere in the world as an Aveo.
Confused yet? That's only the beginning.
