Suzuki Equator to Continue?

[Andy]

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Has anyone heard if the Suzuki Equator will continue or not? It seems like the Equator is not especially popular.

What is your opinion?

[benson]

suzuki equator as of now is slowly gaining popularity since its main rival are huge names. You have toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford and now BMW has its own model of pickup. But suzuki equator have choosen countries on were they will deploy their products.

[alexpitt]

Well i think that the suzuki equator is a really good truck and it would continue.And its gaining popularity.

[savagevervet]

I think it's significant that Suzuki Corporation is NOT selling their top of the line Equator in the US - the RMZ Sport Crew Cab V6 4WD. The best an American consumer can get is the non-Sport RMZ Crew Cab. Suzuki's website implies that you can get the Sport version here, as does the glossy Equator brochure. But as my dealer and I BOTH learned last month - after much confusion, I might add - the RMZ Sport Crew Cab is not currently sold in the States.

What does that mean? Well, at a bare minimum it means that Suzuki Corporation has played loosey-goosey with its advertising. I'm not prepared to use the phrase "bait and switch", BUT...my dealer had to go 500 miles away to find an Equator that both he and I thought was the RMZ Sport. I compromised on the color because it was the ONLY one within a reasonable distance to my town, and then when it got here, it turned out to be the non-Sport RMZ.

What's the difference between the RMZ and the RMZ Sport? According to the marketing materials, four things: 1) a sun roof; 2) the Rockford Fosgate stereo; 3) a Bluetooth system; and 4) stereo controls on the steering wheel. Is that enough to kill a deal? Well, it almost killed the deal for me. This was my first experience with Suzuki. I didn't appreciate waiting for a car that, when it arrived, wasn't exactly what I'd asked for. I was also rather put out with the time and effort I had to invest in deciphering Suzuki's advertising after-the-fact. Fortunately for Suzuki Corporation, the local dealer is a friend of mine and he was able to talk me back around. (He acquired his Suzuki dealership AFTER I had already built a relationship buying other good quality cars from him.)

Do I have a problem with the fact that the Equator is essentially a Nissan product? Obviously not, since I'm buying one. But, a person could argue that by selling a re-badged Frontier, Suzuki isn't 100% committed to succeeding in the mid-size truck market. If it sells, great. If it doesn't, what has Suzuki really lost? They won't have wasted millions engineering a failed vehicle. They won't have learned the hard way that they should stick to what they know: sedans, small SUVs and, of course, motorcycles. And they won't have jeopardized sales of their other lines, ie., Grand Vitaras, SX4s, etc.

If I saw some consistency in Suzuki's advertising and a willingness to put more Equators on dealer lots, I'd feel a lot better about Suzuki's future prospects in the truck market. Until that happens, I think all any of us can do is wait, see, and hope the sharp looks of the Equator catch the eyes of other potential buyers.

[aardvark]

I talked a lot to my dealer about the poor coverage Equators have in the US. He said that the regional manager covering Texas (I'm in Houston) seriously under-estimated the popularity of the truck. They under-supplied b/c they thought the truck market was saturated and too hard to break into. Now they struggle to keep them on lots for very long. Suzuki are meant to be seriously rethinking their inventory philosophy for the US.

I think that manfacturing in Tennessee under Nissan is a stroke of genius. I think that it also occupies a nice area in the "mid-size" range that Ford Rangers (for example) can reach. Being practical, I didn't need the beefed up Silverado or F150 to move my stuff around. So the Equator was a perfect fit, and with a warranty that can't be beat!