Since When Did Suzuki Get into the Midsize Sedan Market?
It's always exciting when a new carmaker comes to town or a tried and true brand invests its energies into an entirely new vehicle genre. Such was the case in 1999 when Daewoo arrived in North America to a public eager for value priced transportation, and such is the case in 2004 now that Suzuki has entered the midsize vertical.
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| Suzuki has long since been part of the North American automotive fabric and looks to not only remain so, but surge ahead as a mainstream player. (Photo: Suzuki Motors) |
Where is the tie-in between Daewoo and Suzuki? As most are probably aware, despite this supposed eagerness for value the Korean upstart didn't fare too well in either Canada or the U.S., and is therefore history as of this year. Suzuki, on the other hand, has long since been part of our automotive fabric and looks to not only remain so, but surge ahead as a mainstream player.
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| The stylish new Verona is the first midsize car that Suzuki has ever produced. (Photo: Suzuki Motors) |
Part of that progression will be directly related to the new Verona, the first midsize Suzuki ever produced. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you the tie-in between Daewoo and Suzuki. The Verona would have been the Daewoo Leganza had the company continued on our continent. When General Motors purchased the Korean manufacturing plants but not the North American sales operations it sent a clear message that it wasn't about to sink a load of cash into developing the least recognized brand around. Instead it would build the cars under its new GMDAT division, and badge them with familiar nameplates. The result is the Verona and the Chevrolet Epica, the bowtie group's own carbon copy duplicate.
I sat in a Verona at the New York auto show in April and felt the interior fit and finish and materials were relatively high grade for the category and expected price. I still feel this way. The one-piece upper dash is attractively designed and molded out of leather-look soft-touch plastic. The instrument panel that fits tightly into place made of better than average plastic too, and in a single piece incorporates the left side ventilation, power mirror remote button and dash light dimmer switch, as well as the upper portion of the center stack that houses a digital clock, twin vents separated by a hazard button and an easy-to-use and effective automatic climate control system.