gavriil

My Verona: New midsize sedan puts Suzuki in mainstream


By MARK VAUGHN


THE MIDSIZE PASSENGER sedan segment in America is huge, dominated by mega-sellers like Camry, Accord, Taurus and Altima that sell in the hundreds of thousands a year. It’s where most big car companies make most of their money (if you don’t count the money minted with trucks and SUVs). There’s room enough in the midsize sedan segment for even small companies to make a living off the table scraps of the juggernauts.

So when Suzuki announced plans to compete in this segment with a car formerly known as a Daewoo and with aims to sell 25,000 a year, you can almost hear a rival executive say, “25,000? Heck, we lose more than that in a week!”


2004 SUZUKI VERONA
ON SALE: Now
BASE PRICE: $16,499
POWERTRAIN: 2.5-liter, 155-hp, 177-lb-ft inline six; fwd, four-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 3380 pounds
0-60 MPH: n/a



Suzuki’s entry is the Verona. Dimensionally it’s similar to the big sellers, but it offers more standard features and undercuts them all in price. The Verona sells in Korea as the Magnus and there it is acknowledged as the successor to Daewoo’s Leganza.

But don’t say Verona is a successor to a rebadged Daewoo Leganza or you’ll raise the ire of people at GM-DAT (GM-Daewoo Automotive and Technology Co.). GM-DAT was formed from the parts of Daewoo that GM bought as Daewoo went bankrupt last year. There remains a company called Daewoo in Korea, but for now let’s concentrate on the new Suzuki Verona.

Unique to the Verona is a transverse inline 2.5-liter six-cylinder as its only engine, driving the front wheels. The all-aluminum, dohc 24-valve six makes 155 hp and 177 lb-ft of torque. Those are good numbers compared with the inline fours of the competition, but less impressive compared with the V6 engines of the competition. Nonetheless, its uniqueness as an inline engine vs. competitors’ V6s should be a selling point among the technologically inclined.



The engine is mated to a four-speed automatic. MacPherson struts hold up the front end while the rear is an independent multi-link. It’s a comfortable, efficient, quiet, solid entry in the class. It drives fine: It’s not too sporty, and neither is it soft and floppy, either.

Where the Verona aims to stand out is with its scads of standard features. The entry-level S model comes fitted with everything from four-wheel discs with antilock brakes to six-speaker AM/FM/CD/cassette for $16,499. A loaded top-of-the-line EX is still less than $20,000. Suzuki claims you’ll save $3,300 compared with a four-cylinder Camry.



Granted, that four-cylinder Camry has earned higher quality and customer satisfaction numbers than any Suzuki sold in America, but Suzuki says it garnered a 36 percent increase in customer satisfaction in the last year, and a 108 percent gain in initial quality during the last five years. Those numbers are admirable, to be sure, but Suzuki remains at a level where the only place to go is up. Therein lies your dichotomy: good value for the stuff you get, but at what price are you willing to chance your overall satisfaction?

SUZUKI'S BIG PLANS

Last year American Suzuki Motor Corp. sold 80,000 passenger cars and sport/utility vehicles in the United States. Peanuts. The company's new 3-5-7 plan calls for a tripling of sales (thus the 3) in five years (the 5) by the year 2007 (and the 7), going from 80,000 to 200,000 annual sales. And Suzuki is not going to do that by bringing back the Samurai, though it will be truck dependent.

"By 2007 we will be in 50 percent of the U.S. market segments," says American Suzuki president Rick Suzuki. "We will go from two product segments to five."

Suzuki laid out the company's plan for nine new vehicles in five years.


2003 calendar year: the new Verona and Forenza midsize and compact sedans

2004: a new five-door crossover wagon

2005: a small SUV with a 2.7-liter V6

2006: a midsize SUV and a new crossover vehicle

2007: a new sport wagon and a new crossover vehicle

Red Nj-s

:whocares:

cusdaddy

blah... Looks like a Sonata.. I think there's too much good competition in this area... Accord, Camry, Altima, etc...

gavriil

I think it's significant to see Suzuki come out with this offering. And with an Inline 6 engine with adequate torque for its size. It's rare to see I6 engines power the front wheels. Actually I dont remember one example from both the USA, as well as the European market, recently.

gavriil

Future Products — Suzuki - - Source: Autoweek