Suzuki to Supply Toyota with an SUV BEV for a new Model

Just one problem- and it happened a decade ago. That's how long it's been since Suzuki pulled out of the USA ....

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a18743309/suzuki-ends-u-s-car-sales-why-it-had-to-do-it/

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A lot of good those big fat incentives did for some people. Often steelerships would jack up the car's price at or near the amount a person would get in incentives anyway. Ford being the worst offender at $50,000 over MSRP.
That said, Toyota killed the small car (prius c) here in the usa, which would make it unlikely they see any profit in bringing one back.
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I believe the US buyers like wider cars. Wasn’t that why the Camry we redesigned for the US market many years ago?

 

The photo looks like an i3 competitor to me. Turns out the reported specs make it a little smaller than the BMW. I'd love to see smaller cars return, but this is close to the Mirage and Spark in size. Making it too small for most Americans.

They don't have a problem selling cars made in Japan here. Turkey though is troublesome as part of Europe. A car isn't too much of an issue, but the C-HR had low fuel economy for a compact car for CAFE. Call it a truck, and it hits the chicken tax. Ford was partially disassembling the Turkish made Transit Connect, and then reassembling it in the US to avoid that tax.

It was, but now they are all wide.

This BEV is closer to the Yaris in width than to the Mirage and Spark. It's too narrow for someone looking for a midsize vehicle, but those buyers won't consider it for overall size, not just width. Then the interior design can reduce the impact of the exterior size some, with narrower doors and center console.

The width could be more problemsome for CAFE. That takes the car's footprint into account when determining how well the model meets to target numbers. It is part of the reason why small cars like the Trax are wide these days.

 

So, Toyota is settling for Suzuki quality? IMO it has been Toyota's quality that gave it success IN DPOTE of 98% of their US dealers.

 

toyota does a lot of different things around the world, market demands vary.
they would probably sell less of these here than bzfourx, which makes it a non starter

 

This looks like a size I would be interested in.
Might be worth trying a test drive, if Toyota actually makes it available here.

 

They're calling that an SUV?

SMH.

 

I guess the logic goes like this:
SUV == Sport Utility Vehicle
Many sporty cars are small, not land yachts
This must then be an SUV.

When I got married, we have the predecessor of the SUV, a Utility Truck. (Dodge Ramcharger).

 

i get the sport and vehicle. i suppose utility is subjective.
it's like my bolt, chevy call it an euv. fun name i guess, and it is much quicker than the prius. but much less utility in the hatch

 

U think the Utility Truck segment was offering an alternative to the open Pickup Truck. On ours, the roof was technically removeable, but if you did that you would need to buy a new gasket to put it back on. We never removed ours. The Didge Ramcharger & The Chevy Blazer in the late 1970s were those type of vehicles,

 

It's a bit amazing to me how little has been done about bad-actor dealers and anti-competitive auto groups.

You'd almost think all the state attorneys-general got elected with campaign donations from car dealers.

 

Car Dealers and Wholesalers were originally designed to remove final price controls from the manufacturers, protecting the consumer. Pharmacy Benefit managers (PBMS) were designed the same way to protect consumer prescription drug prices.

In both cases, the systems have been hijacked by those who were supposed to be isolated from the process. now, the extra layers of middlemen serve no useful purpose except to maintain a monopoly, ripping off the consumers.

 

I hadn't noticed that one before. I guess they're just scared of calling it a hatchback?

 

maybe it's the coupe style that makes it look small