In some not-so-flattering words, the Suzuki Kizashi has been described as a ‘headache’ and an ‘unlucky car’ for the company by Suzuki’s Australian managing director Masaaki Kato. Suzuki’s mid-size sedan has not caught the attention of any market, leave alone India’s and that is proving to be quite worrisome for the company. There are rumours now that it may be discontinued.
The statement was reported in the Australian magazine Drive, where Kato adds, “But you see, we made a big investment to develop this car… After heavy and hard discussion, we decided to introduce this Kizashi.”
He also rued that despite numerous discussions on the car, they did not know how to handle the car and also that the launch of the car was ill-timed as it was just before the global financial crisis which affected the US in 2009.
Further developments to the sedan were planned and the company had even began working on the turbocharged and V6 variants of the Kizashi. There were plans for another estate model but these plans have all come to a standstill, hinting that a successor to this car is highly unlikely and that it may be discontinued in the future.
With regards to India, in November last year, we had reported how Maruti Suzuki had decided to stop importing the Kizashi and was even offering a Rs five lakh discount on the car to clear the existing stock. The car was the Japanese automaker’s first entry into the D-Segment and was brought to India as a CBU. The company had also mentioned that it would then be available on demand basis and unfortunately, the numbers are not very appealing.
However, the Kizashi has failed to generate enthusiasm among buyers due to unavailability of diesel engine and a price tag of over Rs 16.5 lakh.
