4 posts tagged “suzuki”

A few interesting things to note about cars in India.
   The Hindustan Ambassador is still plentiful in number. Though outwardly identical to the Morris Oxford of the 1950s, it is regarded as India’s first national car, rather than the Tata Indica. Cab drivers and government types prefer Ambis, and the big shots have white Ambis with a light on the top of the leading edge of the roof.
   A few of my hosts and friends knew of the Premier Padmini when I brought up the topic, but young people did not. I only saw two in my time there, one in Indore and one in New Delhi. They tell me they are more plentiful in Bombay—the majority of Indians I met referred to their southern city by this name, not Mumbai.
   The Hindustan Contessa, Premier 118 NE and the Standard 2000 were flops, so there was no surprise that they were totally unseen during my time there.
   Maruti is the market leader, and there are 800s everywhere. Maruti is expanding its line-up: the Swift DZire (four-door Swift) and SX4 sedan being newer entrants, appealing to Indians who like the size. DZire is doing well, despite a silly name; in Indore, SX4 taxicabs regularly ferried me twice. The regular Swift hatchback is also sold there, but it’s still the 800 that pushes the Maruti–Suzuki name. I was saddened to see the demise of the Maruti symbol, however, on the latest models, in favour of the Suzuki S.
   From my brief time there, it’s fairly safe to say that very, very few Sipanis and Standard Heralds and Gazels have survived. I saw none.
   I saw only two Tata Indica Vistas, or V3s.
   It took till my second day to see a Tata Indigo Marina. The Tata cars are popular but regarded by the locals more as a car produced by a truck manufacturer and not as refined as Japanese brands—although many of the Japanese and Korean brands are actually made by Indians and have quality equal to, if not better than, what emerges from Japan and Korea.
   There are a lot of Tata Indicas and Indigos.
   There are numerous Mahindra Scorpios and Tata Safaris, as some Indians go for SUVs. Let’s hope this trend doesn’t last. We should be copying them with their subcompact cars, not the other way around.
   Hyundai is growing like crazy and the i20 is a big deal, though it was too soon after the launch to spot any on the roads. However, there are plenty of i10s, which are made in India for the world market.
   Honda is considered a premium make, and the City (Fit Aria) is a big seller. The latest model is advertised on billboards around Gurgaon, and I managed to see one of these. Civics are considered quite upscale, especially considering India receives the fancy Thai-made sedan. The Accord is very flash.
   Both Hyundai and Honda are arguably in a better position than Honda, which began its market assault on India with the Innova, a utility vehicle that some taxi drivers adopted. It has been harder for Toyota to establish a name for itself as a manufacturer of passenger cars. The Corolla Altis (E120) is gaining ground, but not as successfully as one might think.
   GM is very thin on the ground. Daewoos are rebadged as Chevrolets, and there are a few Matizes, Kaloses and Lacettis around, with other model names. Of earlier efforts, there are some four-door (booted) Opel Corsas about, but not many. Fiat also failed: I saw one Uno, and a handful of Palios. One expected better from this master of small cars.
   Of American brands, Ford is doing an incredible job and its Ikon and Fiesta models seem to have done very well, certainly better than Toyota. The Fiesta is more advanced than any compact that Ford sells in the US.
   As in Roma, there is a sense of rhythm to driving in India. Appearing chaotic at first glance, the road rules make some sense if you drive, or are driven, for long enough. I am actually game to give it a shot.

I was reading Suveen Sinha’s article about the new Suzuki, to be built solely at the Maruti plant in India. He believes that the model will possibly be the only car to be shipped with four names, depending on market.
   I had a think about this and disagreed in the comments. If we discounted the badge-engineered cars from, say, BMC in the 1960s or the American Big Four where models were sold with different grilles and rear ends, I was sure I could think of some with four names. Let’s also discount those that came out of separate factories, such as the GM T-car and various Fiats and Seats. We’ll also not count later incarnations of the Opel Corsa B (still rolling off the lines in South America and Red China), but I think we can validly count the first.
   Off the top of my head, various Daewoos probably fit, plus the Australian Holden Commodore.

Daewoo Lacetti
Chevrolet Nubira
Chevrolet Lacetti
Holden Viva
Chevrolet Optra
Buick Excelle (not counting Taiwan model, now facelifted)
Suzuki Forenza
Suzuki Reno

Daewoo Gentra
Chevrolet Aveo
Chevrolet Kalos
Holden Barina

Holden Commodore
Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Omega
Vauxhall VXR-8
Pontiac G8

Opel Corsa B
Vauxhall Corsa Mk I
Holden Barina
Opel Vita (Japan)

Suzuki Cultus (1983)
Suzuki Swift
Holden Barina
Chevrolet Sprint

Mitsubishi Mirage (1978)
Dodge Colt
Plymouth Champ
Mitsubishi Colt
Colt 1200 and 1400

   I am sure there are more …

The last time they made a car called the Chevrolet Cruze, it was a rebodied Suzuki Wagon R:

and, before Holden started selling Daewoo Kaloses, was considered the worst model in its range when it was rebadged with the Aussie lion on the grille.
   This time, it seems Chevrolet Cruze will be the export name for the Daewoo Lacetti replacement in Europe and the US. It doesn’t look very American at all—as usual, it looks Korean, which it is. The good news is that the platform is shared with the next Opel Astra and engineered in Rüsselsheim. The front grille is reminiscent of the Gentra, though the lights are more aggressive. The rear is similar to the Daewoo Tosca:

   Speaking of dodgy Daewoos, I saw, in the metal, the new Holden Barina—Daewoo Gentra X in its country of origin—and the transformation is not very pleasant. The grille does not have a centralized Holden lion badge: it’s placed higher within the grille. Here’s the original Korean model as on Autocade for reference:

 
   I imagine that New Zealand is not going to be far behind Australia, given that the news reports of the facelifted Barina only appeared in the Aussie press earlier this week. Admittedly, I thought I was looking at a Škoda Fabia at first glance, then I had the misfortune of seeing the rest of it. I just hope, for buyers’ sake, this car is safer than the old Kalos.