Suzuki Navara badge engineering.

[GunMentalGrey]

Recently joined a Suzuki forum to find out more about a Grand Vitara. In looking around I discovered a few Suzuki models unknown to me, overseas versions.

Among the Odd models was a Suzuki Equator which is apparently a Nissan Frontier (Navara) with a funny nose job and some different badges, but otherwise a Navara. Came with 2.5TD or 4.0V6 in extra cans and dual cab and sold from 2008-2012 in USA and 2008-2010 in Canada. Apparently assembled in USA.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Equator

 

[Old.Tony]

Very interesting. I mean, it's done right across the industry: Ford Maverick/Nissan Patrol, Suzuki Cino/Holden Barina, Mazda BT50/Ford Ranger, the list goes on.

Curious that they underpowered the Suzuki version of the 2.5L engine. That year model's YD25 did 126kW/403Nm compared to 113kW/232Nm, a substantial downgrade in torque. I suppose Nissan had to keep some advantage for its own brand.

 

[GunMentalGrey]

The Suzuki forum mentioned the equator had a better warranty.

Apparently they also sold a rebadged Daewoo sedan. That wouldn’t have helped the brand’s reputation!

 

[Old.Tony]

Better warranties are sometimes not everything they're made up to be.

Mitsubishi, in Australia, offer a 10 year warranty on new cars. If you miss a service, it immediately drops to 5 years. A "service" is defined as a periodic maintenance task conducted by an authorised dealer. Hyundai offered 8 year warranties if you maintained the vehicle with them exclusively, 4 years if you didn't.

Technically they're not supposed to be able to do that, there are rules about honouring warranties, and the "extended" warranty is a special clause in the vehicle sale contract that provides the extra warranty period only if ALL of the servicing is conducted by the authorised dealer. This is despite knowing that the spanner guy at the authorised dealer doesn't hold a candle to the spanner guy at your local mechanical workshop. It's all about following the recipe, which is something we've discussed on this forum for many years now.

 

[GunMentalGrey]

There’s always a catch with warranty! I wonder how the warranty system works in the US given their penchant for fine print and lawyers.

 

[Old.Tony]

Australia is probably second in its rates of litigation to America.

That's a good thing: it means we prefer legal avenues to resolve disputes, whereas in the USA there's a good number of people using firearms to resolve issues.

 

[ericcs]

Very interesting. I mean, it's done right across the industry: Ford Maverick/Nissan Patrol, Suzuki Cino/Holden Barina, Mazda BT50/Ford Ranger, the list goes on.

Curious that they underpowered the Suzuki version of the 2.5L engine. That year model's YD25 did 126kW/403Nm compared to 113kW/232Nm, a substantial downgrade in torque. I suppose Nissan had to keep some advantage for its own brand.

and the 2.5l was only in 2WD!