Mitsubishi to Sell Rebadged Suzuki Cars

Since the only way to face competition and stay strong in the current automotive industry seems to be joining forces with one of your rivals, Suzuki and Mitsubishi signed an agreement a few days ago to collaborate on a number of projects. The first of them sees Suzuki supply compact vehicles to Mitsubishi in the domestic market where this particular type of vehicles enjoy the biggest success thanks to their economy and performance.

Suzuki will thus hand Mitsubishi Motors 800 Solio vehicles per month to be sold as rebadged versions starting spring 2010. Suzuki has recently redesigned the Solio and plans to debut the updated model in January 2010.

According to what Suzuki said a few days ago when it presented the new Solio, the car is scheduled to arrive in Suzuki’s Japanese dealers starting January 7th, 2011. It has been designed as a tall, compact wagon that’s user-friendly and offers good fuel efficiency performance, thus being specifically addressed to the Japanese market that registers increasing demand for efficient vehicles.

Convenient left- and right-hand rear sliding doors are complemented by a one-touch double-folding rear seat that permits a variety of seat arrangements. The body of the car is compact, measuring just 3,710 mm (146 inches) in length and 1,660 mm (65 inches) in width. The small wagon will only be available with a 1.2-liter gasoline engine producing 91HP, combined with a CVT and front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive.

Suzuki intends to sell as many as 12,000 Solios per year in the domestic market, while Mitsubishi will get close to that figure, with all units to be provided by its now-ally local rival.