Suzuki may have pulled the plug on its automotive operations in North America, but in Europe, it's still alive (well, at least for now), thank you very much.
Following the release of the updated 2013 Jimny last month, Suzuki has now given a mild facelift to its aging Grand Vitara that goes on sale in the United Kingdom this month as a 2013 model with prices starting from £15,995 for SZ3 1.6 litre 3 door version.
More than 32,000 Suzuki Grand Vitara and SX4 vehicles are being recalled in the United States over an improperly manufactured component of the tension adjuster pulley that could cause the drive belt to either slip or come off and lead to engine overheating or stalling.
Suzuki said the recall concerns the 2009-2010 model year Grand Vitara SUVs equipped with 4-cylinder engines; 2011MY Grand Vitara vehicles produced prior to October 17, 2010; 2010MY SX4s and 2011MY SX4s manufactured before October 14, 2010.
After Garmin announced a voluntary recall of 1.25 million units of its popular Nuvi GPS system at the end of August amidst concerns that the batteries could overheat and catch fire, Suzuki and Nissan followed with a recall on several vehicles equipped with the affected Garmin Nuvi navigation systems including the 750, 760, or 765 models for the same reason.
Remember yesterday when we said Suzuki got smacked by an average 68% sales drop compared to last August (and -52% from the beginning of the year) in the US? Well, we decided to take a deeper look at the company's sales figures and discovered some interesting facts.
All in all, Suzuki sold a mere 1,878 cars and SUVs in August, down from 5,751 units the same month a year ago. The Japanese automaker says it has around 300 dealers in the U.S. If you do the math, that comes to a little over 6 vehicles sold per dealer in August... Here are some more details on the company's sales broken down model by model:
