I'm at the Chicago Auto Show, where I had dinner last night with the folks from American Suzuki Motor Corporation. Executive Vice President Koichi Suzuki (no relation to the founder of the company) has just returned to American Suzuki after a couple of years back in Japan at the mother ship. As we cut into ridiculously large slabs of red meat at Gibson's Steakhouse in the Rush Street nightlife district, Mr. Suzuki confirmed that the Kizashi 3 sedan concept from last year's New York Auto Show will indeed yield an all-new production sedan for Suzuki's worldwide markets, including the United States. The sexy sedan, which is likely to debut at this November's 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show and then go on sale sometime in 2010, is a marked departure for Suzuki both in styling and performance. It will definitely be offered with all-wheel drive, and Mr. Suzuki invoked the BMW 3-series as one of their performance targets, which is as clear an indication as any that Suzuki is aiming high with this new sedan.
Joe DeMatio
Executive Editor
Automobile Magazine