Suzuki plans to introduce hybrids to Japan and North America ASAP
Kyodo News in Japan reports that Suzuki plans to introduce new hybrid models in their largest markets as soon as possible, Suzuki president Hiroshi Tsuda said on Friday. The article suggests that Suzuki will get their hybrid technology from General Motors, which owns part of Suzuki. This makes sense, as Suzuki shares platforms with the Chevy Equinox and its GM siblings from Saturn and Pontiac. GM is set to become a major player in hybrid vehicles, and is sharing their technology with DaimlerChrysler, BMW and others... now including Suzuki.Suzuki is no stranger to fuel efficient vehicles, being the largest maker of minicars in Japan, which use engines which are no larger than 660ccs. Suzuki is one of the largest motorcycle makers in the world as well, which puts them in a good position to design and manufacture small but relatively powerful engines.
[Source: Japan Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
yes_i_am_an_american 10:13PM (1/07/2007)
I have a 3cyl 5spd 96 Geo Metro/ Suzuki Swift that gets 44MPG with regular city driving or 50 if I shut off the engine at red lights. Why not just reintroduce this versatile hatch back to the US market with a cleaner emission system?
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Luke Crawford 11:44PM (1/07/2007)
eh, the metro was my first car; the problem with it was that it got 35MPG or so at 70MPH. The next car I got, a '92, BMW 325IS was much faster and got 30MPG at 70. And the suzuki was a real slug when it came to merging on to freeways or passing. I now drive a vehicle with an even smaller engine, a '04 suzuki SV650. The accelleration is much better than even the BMW. The cargo space is lacking, but with a proper set of tiedowns, I can get a 2U server to the datacenter and back; that's what really matters, isn't it?
In city/stop and go driving, hybreds have a large theoretical advantage in their reginerative breaking. For freeway driving, you have a point, though, on the freeway, there is no reason why a gas car can not be as efficent as a hybred.
But then you have a point about the gas-only "mini cars" or motorcycles - they have a much lower cost of production (you can measure cost of production in terms of dollars or in terms of environmental stress and you would get similar results) than hybred vehicles, due to the expensive and highly toxic battery systems. Depending on how long the vehicles (and their battery systems) last, a gas vehicle may be more efficent in total.
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