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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 24, 2007 - 29 Suzuki ups its aim for the lucrative compact car segment By Jim Robinson OAKVILLE BEAVER Suzuki is on a roll. From a maker of solid, but staid compact cars and CUVs, Suzuki changed its image and model lineup dramatically two years ago, starting with the amazingly improved Grand Vitara CUV, then the North American only XL7 seven-seat CUV. This was followed by the SX4 a compact hatchback with front- or all-wheel-drive that added greatly to Suzuki's sudden upward sales mobility in Canada. At the recent launch of the 2008 SX4 sedan in Quebec City, new Suzuki Canada president Seiichi Maruyama said the brand is now number one in sales in places like Hungary and India and number three in Japan ahead of Honda. More to the point is that while industry sales in Canada rose two per cent last year, Suzuki was up 26 per cent and they ran out of models like the SX4 hatch, due to demand exceeding supply, a situation Suzuki is experiencing in many of its markets worldwide. Suzuki now has two pressing objectives according to Maruyama: more new plants and more new models like the SX4 sedan. For instance, there is a new mid-size sedan coming next year and Maruyama would not comment on rumours of a small pickup truck. He did say the Canadian compact segment remains Suzuki's main focus. Compact sedans are 47 per cent of the total car market in this country, meaning one in two cars sold is a compact. And while hatchbacks are 26 per cent of sales, sedans make up the other 74 per cent, so a lot is riding on the SX4 sedan. While there are eight ways to mix and match transmissions, drive trains and trim with the five-door hatchback version, Suzuki is keeping it simple with the sedan, offering a base and Sport model with a choice of a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission. Suzuki will not offer all-wheel-drive (AWD) on the sedan as it does on the five-door. Several customer clinics showed that prospective buyers could see the merits of AWD with the hatch, but not the sedan. It turns out compact sedan buyers are fundamentally different. Thus Suzuki concluded SX4 sedan buyers are Continued on Page 33 The 2008 Suzuki SX4 sedan takes the winning formula that saw demand exceeding supply of the hatchback that went on sale last year. Suzuki claims class-leading power, interior space and truck volume with the sedan.