Tag Archives: suzuki

Daihatsu might bring back the Rocky as a Jimny rival

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Ben Hsu

There’s a rumor swirling around Japanese automotive media right now that Daihatsu might be bringing back the mighty Rocky. Well, technically it’s not the Rocky, but the vehicle that the original Rocky was based on, the Daihatsu Rugger. It’s said … Continue reading →

Posted in Next Version | Tagged daihatsu, jimny, Rocky, Rugger, suzuki | 2 Comments

Suzuki’s COVID project was a stunning retro Katana

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Dan Hsu

The year-long lockdown due to COVID gave all of us a lot of downtime to catch up on back burner projects. Hopefully, you used that time as wisely as Suzuki did. The company has just revealed a stunning, one-off, road-going … Continue reading →

Posted in Motorcycles | Tagged GSX-R1000, Katana, Superbike World Championship, suzuki | 1 Comment

Suzuki surpasses milestone of 25 million kei cars sold

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Ben Hsu

It’s taken 65 years and 7 months, but Suzuki announced on May 11 that it has sold 25 million kei cars. That’s not a huge number compared to, say, the Toyota Corolla, which has sold over 44 million of a … Continue reading →

Posted in News | Tagged alto, carry, Every, fronte, kei, suzuki, Suzulight, Wagon R | 3 Comments

EVENTS: The inaugural Kyushu Kei Car Meeting

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Daniel O'Grady

On Sunday April 25th the inaugural Kyushu Kei Car Meeting was held in Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture. I see a raised hand in the back there. “Inaugural” means, like, the first one? Well, yeah. Due to a glaringly obvious oversight, … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged alto, Autozam AZ-1, B360, beat, Cara, copen, crown, daihatsu, Fellow, fronte, honda, kei, life, Life StepVan, mazda, minica, Minica Dangan, minicab, mitsubishi, NIII 360, nissan, porter cab, R-2, s12, s40, silvia, subaru, subaru 360, suzuki, tn360, toyota, Vivio | 14 Comments

Japan’s Automotive Hall of Fame inductees for 2020 include the Suzuki Jimny, Honda RA272

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Ben Hsu

Each year the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame choose three classic automobiles of historic significance to honor, and they’ve announced their inductees for 2020. More so than in past years, the trio covers extreme opposite ends of the vehicular spectrum. … Continue reading →

Posted in News | Tagged formula 1, honda, japan automotive hall of fame, jimny, lj10, ra272, suzuki, Tatsuo Hasegawa, Toyopet SKB, toyota, trucks | 1 Comment

OH, KEI! The Jimny Santa Monica was a cute beach cruiser based on Suzuki’s mini-4×4

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Ben Hsu

With summer is upon us, so are dreams of beachside cruising. In the history of kei cars, there was perhaps no vehicle more fitting for that purpose than the Jimny Santa Monica (it’s right there in the name!). Built upon … Continue reading →

Posted in kei | Tagged JA71, jimny, kei, suzuki, trucks | 2 Comments

You can get the old Suzuki Jimny’s graphics on a new Suzuki Jimny

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Ben Hsu

Not only is the Suzuki Jimny is one of the hottest new cars you can buy in Japan right now, but it’s one that’s ripe for modification. From functional off-road equipment to appearance packages, there’s tons of options available in … Continue reading →

Posted in Next Version | Tagged JA11, JB74, jimny, suzuki | 4 Comments

COLLECTIONS: By opening the Jimny Museum, Shigeru Onoue achieved his dream

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Ben Hsu

The Jimny Museum in Japan was not officially established by Suzuki. Instead, the two story shrine to the country’s favorite mini 4WD truck was the obsession of one 72-year-old man, Shigeru Onoue, who has devoted his life to this single … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections | Tagged Apio, HopeStar, jimny, Jimny Museum, lj10, lj20, Osamu Suzuki, samurai, sj10, sj20, SJ30, suzuki | 4 Comments

VIDEO: Chevy’s captive import Isuzu and Suzuki turbos were the bee’s knees

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Ben Hsu

The 1980s were heady times. Even the smallest econoboxes coming out of Japan had sport-ified versions lavished with tech and gear that would have seemed at home on much higher-priced sports cars. Plus, both Isuzu and Suzuki were still operating … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Tagged chevy, cultus, i-mark, isuzu, Motorweek, Spectrum, sprint, suzuki | 5 Comments

Here’s a kit to make the new Suzuki Jimny look like its great-grandfather

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Ben Hsu

It should come as no surprise that the Suzuki Jimny is a popular car in Japan. It’s one of the coolest new cars you can buy there, and a vehicle whose purposeful engineering is at the core of its appeal. … Continue reading →

Posted in Tokyo Auto Salon | Tagged JB74, jimny, kei, suzuki, tokyo auto salon, trucks | 2 Comments

VIDEO: And the best Japanese car of 1995 was…

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Ben Hsu

By 2020 the 25-year threshold of what constitutes a classic car will cut off at 1995. What was the best Japanese car of that year? Back then, Japan’s Best Motoring sought the answer in a series of videos pitting several … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Tagged 3000GT, A80, accord, Accord 5g, alto, best motoring, camry, capella, cappuccino, Cefiro, Celica GT-Four, celsior, daihatsu, estima, F20, familia, fd3s, fto, gto, honda, impreza, infiniti, Infiniti I, kei, lancer evolution, mazda, mira, mitsubishi, mr2, nissan, nsx, Odyssey, r32, RAV4, rx-7, s14, silvia, skyline, st205, subaru, supra, suzuki, sw20, toyota, Vivio, wrx | 1 Comment

SEMA 2019, Part 04: More Nihon Steel

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Ben Hsu

It’s really hard to capture everything at a show as big as SEMA, but here are a few more slabs of Nihon Steel we found lurking around. There was everything from slammed sleds to off-road heroes, sometimes both in the … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 370z, acura, civic, Civic EG, cressida, eclipse, fc3s, fj40, fj62, Frontier, honda, hot wheels, J200, J60, J70, J80, jimny, Kicks, land cruiser, mark II, mazda, mitsubishi, N260, nissan, nsx, rally, Rocket Bunny, rx-7, rx-8, s13, sema, silvia, subaru, suzuki, tacoma, Titan, toyota, WRX STI, x80, z34 | 5 Comments

SEMA 2019, Part 02 – The coolest cars at the Toyo Treadpass

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Ben Hsu

Toyo Tires consistently has one of the best displays at SEMA. It offers the most diverse lineup of cars of any company, from classics to supercars to scratch-your-head stuff like a slammed Mercedes G-Wagen. It also offers a convenient pass-through … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 240z, ae86, b110, c10, civic, Civic EA, corolla, datsun, Hakosuka, honda, jimny, lancer evolution, legacy, mitsubishi, nissan, s30 z, sema, skyline, subaru, sunny, suzuki, Toyo Tires, toyota, wagons | 6 Comments

2019 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — JDM, yo

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Dan Hsu

This year marked the 15th anniversary for America’s premier gathering of Nihon steel. To put that in perspective, at the first JCCS in 2005, the newest Japanese cars allowed for import under America’s 25-year import ban were built in 1980. … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 230, 510, Alto Works, az-1, bluebird, c110, celica, Celica GT-Four, century, civic, Civic EG, F30, figaro, gloria, honda, japanese classic car show, kei, kenmeri, leopard, mazda, nissan, r30, r31, r32, r33, s13, silvia, skyline, soarer, suzuki, T205, z20 | 7 Comments

Suzuki’s retro concept revives the dream of the Pulsar EXA

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Ben Hsu

Suzuki has released images of its upcoming concepts for the Tokyo Motor Show, and they are pretty much bonkers. The most interesting one to JNCers will no doubt be the WakuSpo Concept, a small retro car that picks up where … Continue reading →

Posted in Tokyo Motor Show | Tagged nissan, pulsar exa, suzuki, tokyo motor show, WakuSpo | 5 Comments

NEWS: Toyota and Suzuki’s stock share meld takes us one step closer to a Japanese Big Three

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Ben Hsu

Some industry news out of Japan tells us that Toyota and Suzuki have made their courtship official in the way that multinational corporations do: by taking a stock stake in each other. The two companies announced a technology sharing partnership … Continue reading →

Posted in News | Tagged suzuki, toyota | 7 Comments

EVENTS: Japanese Automotive Invitational 2019

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Dan Hsu

Now in its second year, the Japanese Automotive Invitational seeks to introduce the idea of collectible Nihon steel to a crowd that considers a 1954 Ferrari 375 MM not classic enough. Located at the Infiniti booth that sits just outside … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 2000gt, 200sx, 240z, 280zx, 3000GT, 300zx, 310, 411, 510, 929, acura, adam carolla, alcyone, bellett, bluebird, c10, contessa, corona, cosmo, cosmo sport, crx, CRX EA, CRX EF, csp311, datsun, fairlady roadster, fc3s, fj55, g2, galant gto, Hakosuka, hino, honda, Honda S-Series, honda z, infiniti, Integra g1, isuzu, J80, Japanese Automotive Invitational, jc, jimny, land cruiser, legend, Legend g1, lexus, Lexus LX, lexus sc, lj20, luce, mazda, miata, Miata NA, mitsubishi, Model 70, Monterey Car Week, mx-5, nissan, nsx, paul newman, r130, r382, rx-7, s10, s130, S30Z, scca, Sera, silvia, skyline, sports 800, subaru, subaru xt, suzuki, svx, t40, toyota, Type 16, VehiCROSS, Z30, z31 | 7 Comments

EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2019

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Glenn Chiou

Just a week after my colleagues were at SpoCom in SoCal, Radwood returned to its ancestral home in NorCal. The traveling show of 80s and 90s nostalgia started in the Bay Area in 2017, and has been expanding rapidly. There … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 240sx, 300zx, 4runner, acura, ae86, aw11, cappuccino, celica, corolla, crx, CRX EF, fc3s, fd3s, fj60, honda, impulse, isuzu, kei, land cruiser, lexus, lexus sc, mazda, mr2, N60, nissan, nsx, piazza, rx-7, s13, s14, sa22, silvia, soarer, st185, suzuki, sw20, T180, toyota, z31 | 9 Comments

MINICARS: Tomica is coming to Walmart

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Ricky Silverio

There’s some great news for fans of Japanese diecast. Tomica cars will soon be available in the United States, at Walmart stores. “Having sold more than a half a billion units around the world, Tomica is known for luxury premium … Continue reading →

Posted in minicars | Tagged brz, isuzu, subaru, suzuki, swift, tomica | 24 Comments

VIDEO: The Geo Tracker should be your next overlanding rig

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Ben Hsu

When you think Geo Tracker, your brain typically conjures the image of a convertible top, two-door, cute-ute, maybe in some jaunty color, maybe hanging out at the beach. But the Tracker, and the Suzuki Sidekick it was based on, had … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Tagged escudo, Geo Tracker, Motorweek, Sidekick, suzuki | 8 Comments