Kizashi:
A less known beast by Suzuki
Do you know about any D-segment sedan, with 2400cc engine, 5-star safety rating & and that to made by Suzuki? Yes, this combination existed once upon a time and that to for a short time. Read this blog & get more information about this less known sedan.
Introduction:
Suzuki is known for making small & fuel-efficient cars, not only in India but also worldwide. Suzuki was doing good in developing countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa etc. but they wanted to enter in developed countries like USA, Europe & the middle eastern countries. But in that countries small cars are either impractical or the people of that countries want performance cars over fuel-efficient cars. Suzuki wanted to change the world’s perception towards them.
For that Suzuki came up with ‘Kizashi’. A ‘D – segment’ sedan with 2400cc engine & 5 – star safety rating. Suzuki 1st launched Kizashi in 2009 in Japan then USA eventually in other countries. It launched in India on 2nd February 2011. It discontinued world-wide in 2015.
Starting of ‘Kizashi’:
It all started when Hirotaka Ono, the son-in-law of Osamu Suzuki joined ‘Suzuki’ in 2001. As Osamu Suzuki wanted to bring new vision and goals in a conservative company. Within a year with the help of chief engineer Eiji Mochizuki, Hirotaka Ono dumped Suzuki’s current line-up of that time and started work on new line-up from the scratch. This decision turned very fruitful for Suzuki. For this Suzuki got some valuable cars like Grand Vitara, SX4 and last but not the list the Swift.
Grand Vitara was a SUV, that time SUVs were not very famous as today’s time. SX4 was a C-segment sedan & Swift was a hatchback car. These cars were doing well in developing countries but by these cars Suzuki was unable to change their image from a small, fuel-efficient car maker to a performance car maker. For this Hirotaka Ono decided to turn his vision in to reality and he named that reality ‘Kizashi’. The meaning of ‘Kizashi’ in Japanese is – The sign of good things to come.
From vision to reality:
Suzuki was showcasing the concept car named ‘Kizashi’ for a longtime. The 1st concept was showcased in Frankfurt Motor-show in 2007. The 2nd concept was showcased in Tokyo Motor-show that too in 2007. If you look at the pictures the car was hatch back at first. But after some change in the design under the supervision of Hirotaka Ono, it turned in to a sedan. Suzuki unveiled the 3rd concept car in 2008 at New York auto-show and named it as Kizashi – 3
If you look at the images carefully, the concept cars were rapidly changing into a production car. This change was happening fast because Suzuki wanted to launch Kizashi ASAP (As Soon As Possible). And they did it also, in 2009 Suzuki launched Kizashi.
As soon as Kizashi hit the market Suzuki proved that they are also capable to make performance car like Honda and German brands.
Specification & Features of Kizashi:
Engine Specifications:
Kizashi used to come with 2.4L, 4-cylinder MPFI engine which used to produce 176 BHP & 230 nm of torque. In India Suzuki launched Kizashi with a 6-speed manual & a 6-speed automatic transmission. The manual variant was able to go 0-100 kmph in just 7.8 seconds.
Features:
Suzuki – Kizashi was not only feature rich but also far ahead from its time. This sedan used to come with endless features like,
1. Keyless Entry 2. Keyless Start/Stop 3. Vanity mirrors with lights 4. Dual zone climate control 5. Centre console with good layout | 6. Good storage space 7. Good quality leather seats 8. Power adjusted front seats with memory control 9. Projector lamps 10. 8 air bags and many more |
Along with these features the automatic variant used to come with Padel Shifters & Hill Hold. And last but not the least despite of being Suzuki, the body of Kizashi was made off high strength steel. It was one of the reason this car was getting 5-star safety rating in Australian NCAP.
Awards of Kizashi:
The car critics loved Suzuki – Kizashi. This sedan was very powerful, feature packed & also had 5-star safety rating. Not only this, Kizashi won various awards also.
In 2010 & 2011, Suzuki – Kizashi won Auto Pacific’s vehicle satisfaction award in USA. In 2010, this car won two awards in New Zealand. The awards are AA Motoring Excellence award and The New Zealand Herald car of the year award. In 2011, Consumer Digest selected Suzuki – Kizashi as best buy car.
Kizashi & It’s competitors:
In India the price of Suzuki – Kizashi’s top variant was priced around ₹18 lakhs on road. The other same segment cars like Toyota – Camry & Honda – Accord were much expensive than Kizashi.
Toyota – Camry base variant’s price was around ₹28 lakhs in 2010 & Honda – Accord base variant’s price was around ₹21 lakhs in 2010.
If you look at the features and engine ‘Kizashi’ had in that price, you may say Suzuki – Kizashi was a value for money car.
Sales of Kizashi:
Despite of being value for money, the number of sales was not very good. In USA Suzuki sold around 5000 – 6000 units of Kizashi yearly and in Canada Suzuki sold around 600 – 700 units of Kizashi yearly. In Japan Suzuki sold around 3379 units of Kizashi from 2009 to 2015 but the fun-fact is ¼th of them was acquired by Japanese State Police.
Now the biggest question you have,
‘Why Suzuki – Kizashi failed?’ :
Well as per my analysis, I will try to answer this question in two parts 1st one in Indian aspect and the other one in world-wide aspect.
Indian Aspect:
Suzuki – Kizashi was a CBU (Complete Build Unit) import and as per Indian Tax regime it had around 105% import duty. And as I have mentioned earlier Suzuki – Kizashi priced around ₹18 lakhs on road, and the price seems ‘OK!’ at present time but, that time (around 2010 – 2011) that price was too high for a Suzuki car.
If Suzuki built Kizashi in India then the price would be around ₹ 9 – 10 lakhs, and that is a price was somewhat reasonable for Indians. Moreover, that Indian people always choose fuel-efficiency over performance. These are some reasons why Suzuki – Kizashi failed in India
World - wide Aspect:
1st reason of failing ‘Kizashi’ is the brand image of SUZUKI. The image of making small and fuel-efficient cars was the main killer of Kizashi.
2nd, after 2008’s Global Financial Crisis world was recovering from it so people were afraid to try anything new, that time Kizashi entered in the market. And couldn’t make its own place.
One other reason is there that I can think of is that, Hirotaka Ono the visionary behind ‘Kizashi’ died due to pancreatic cancer in 2010. As a result, his vision was ‘Kizashi’ also remained incomplete.
Thanks for tuning in. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. But this is just the beginning. There’s still so much more to explore in the world of cars and bikes, and I’ll be back soon with more exciting content that’s sure to get your engines revving. So don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter and stay tuned for our next instalment. Until then, keep on exploring all the thrilling adventures that the open road has to offer!
— by Shubhradwip Paul
