Osamu Suzuki, who led Japanese automaker for over 4 decades, dies at 94

There was a movie about him.

A true Titan of the industry. Tighter than a duck’s arse and that’s why you’ll never get better bang for your buck than in a Suzuki.

Toshihiro has big shoes to fill.

Check out dem eyebrows.

He should have had the nickname "Hayabusa".

Otsukaresama deshita.

Iconic Japanese who made iconic cars for the world. He should have got a state send off.

RIP. India will remain forever grateful to you.

Learned driving at the age of 14 on a Maruti 800 original model (so named because of its 800 cc engine), like many others of my generation.

India would not have become the third largest car market in the world today if not for Suzuki-san.

RIP.

He sure did oversee the manufacture of some great cars and motorcycles.

Suzuki contributed much in his long life.

I used to drive a Jimny, and it was a great car. The new ones are out of my price range, sadly.

I really like today's Suzuki Swifts because they are like having a sports car with great fuel economy and cargo space, but Suzuki is otherwise not a great carmaker or bikemaker.

Their products tend to be cheap and thrown-together, while many are an awkward fit to the maket they are supposed to cater to.

ha, respects to him but what about the the rev output of the 250cc 4-stroke V4 2-wheeler. did Ducati but I reckon he perhaps did a b'fast meeting with yammy and pulled out of the works teams competitions. Jpn market was cheap small, economic cabin vehicles. Where were the jimney, swifts etc power units born.

Iconic Japanese who made iconic cars for the world. He should have got a state send off.

Nobody normally sane would consider Suzuki cars iconic in any form or shape. They are crap, this dude made shitty cars that’s why their existence outside Japan is basically null. So stop it, you are grotesque.

Daito; sure lightweight economy engined cars! the form of the 'no oil days' when ford was manufactuing? 90hp mustangs, their bodies also fell apart. the time and a place. iconic is only in the eyes of the beholder. Strong negatives. I will give you a positive, at jimney time many people were taking the bus, they could not avoid to gas their non-crap car!

Suzuki knew back then that VW's diesel engines were crap, with software that enabled emission-reduction features ONLY on test stands. They even informed VW that their own testing showed differences between claimed (and legal) performance and the actual one. VW more or less ignored them, leading to a 30 billion EUR loss. THAT'S why Suzuki decided against buying VW engines.

I used to drive a Jimny, and it was a great car.

I drove the North American equivalent of a Jimny many years ago. It was awful. It barely hit the highway speed limit of 80km, provided I had a tailwind. The handling was all over the place and motion sickness was pretty common among passengers, even on smooth roads.

The little jeeps were "niche," however, and had fans soley based on image. The Suzuki vehicles that couldn't rely on this appeal all left the North American market, for good reason. Obviously, the Indians aren't so fussy.

I drove the North American equivalent of a Jimny many years ago. It was awful. It barely hit the highway speed limit of 80km. the Indians aren't so fussy.

LOL thinking that Jimny will turn out to be a highway speed demon is a case of misplaced expectations. Its utility is as a cheap, lightweight 4WD which can be used as an off roader to travel over any terrain.

The second generation Jimny was used heavily by Indian army units to travel mountain and desert frontier terrain where roads were non-existent.

daito_hak Your frequent use of the word ' grotesque' is both strange and amusing.

that’s why their existence outside Japan is basically null.

Literally, in the article:

Suzuki Motor, still commands roughly 40% of India's car market.

There is, however, just one country on Earth where Suzukis have essentially ceased to exist.

A TV program called Consumer Reports in that country rigged tests and falsified data to erroneously suggest that Suzuki jeeps were more dangerous than their contemporaries.

This encouraged ambulance chasing lawyers to go after the company following any accident involving a Suzuki, so the company had no choice but to withdraw from that particular market.