sx4rocious wrote:My guess as to why the Kenwood system in'st available in Japan is that Clarion and Panasonic I believe are both subsidiaries of Fujitsu which is a Japanese company, therefore not only more prevailant in Japan, but they would also have the European radio frequencies programmed in. Kenwood being American (I think...)owned, probably would not...
I wonder why they just couldn't ship those units here. My guess is because the navigation wouldn't work as well as the radio frequencies like you mentioned.
But I wonder if it's possible to get one here and replace the Kenwood? It would be a factory solution to the problem, even if it does limit some of the functionality.
sx4rocious wrote:that's pretty cool! I like some of the stuff there. A guy in the SX4 forums that I know brought back a set of the seat skins for his SX4. Not my style, but he's probably the only guy in this hemisphere with them, so that would be cool.
My guess as to why the Kenwood system in'st available in Japan is that Clarion and Panasonic I believe are both subsidiaries of Fujitsu which is a Japanese company, therefore not only more prevailant in Japan, but they would also have the European radio frequencies programmed in. Kenwood being American (I think...)owned, probably would not...
No. Kenwood, Clarion, and Panasonic are all Japanese. None of them are under Fujitsu. Panasonic is a huge company and supplies many electric vehicles and hybrids with their batteries. The batteries in the Tesla Model S are sourced from Panasonic.
My guess in why the systems differ from the JDM to the export market is because of mapping software.
KuroNekko wrote:No. Kenwood, Clarion, and Panasonic are all Japanese. None of them are under Fujitsu. Panasonic is a huge company and supplies many electric vehicles and hybrids with their batteries. The batteries in the Tesla Model S are sourced from Panasonic.
My guess in why the systems differ from the JDM to the export market is because of mapping software.
huh? I could have sworn Fujitsu was the parent company of Panasonic.... I know they own Eclipse and a couple other smaller companies. They actually make pretty good stuff.
I also thought Kenwood speakers were made in that HUGE factory in Tempe AZ with Orion, Soundstream, Kicker, and several others. I'm not sure about the electronics part of the company (which is no doubt either Japanese or Chinese manufactured) but I've been out of the game for a while now, so I assume ownership has changed hands many times over by now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find the factory itself was closed. It seemed nice. the invited me out every year to tour when I was a dealer....
KuroNekko wrote:There are simply not many accessories for this car worldwide given the car is not selling well anywhere.
I was in Japan about a year ago and asked a few Suzuki dealers about the Kizashi. They told me they did not sell well and about the only people who drove them in Japan were Suzuki executives. Only certain Suzuki dealers sold the Kizashi (none I visited).
I also got two copies of the JDM Suzuki brochure which showed factory accessories. Some accessories unique to the JDM included things like gaudy seat lace covers which are popular among geezers in Japan. I know they sell stuff like leather key fob covers, but there aren't significant performance or appearance accessories.
I once came across Whiteline front sway bar end links on some site. Whiteline is from Australia and used to make a rear sway bar for the Kizashi which was discontinued.
I have not come across aftermarket JDM parts for the Kizashi but have not looked too much for them either.
Personally, I think the car is too nice, too late. It's either too small or too big. People want larger sedans or smaller kei cars. The days of a car of its size are almost gone.
It dawned on me today that our Kizashi reminded me of my first love--a 1993 Altima SE. It's about the same size, same modding potential, same performance and mileage. And the Altima of today is nothing like the car that started it all. It's almost twice as large, handles like a boat, and isn't built as well. But it sells like hotcakes.
Woodie wrote:Matsushita is the parent company of Panasonic.
has it been that way for a while? I've been out of the game for about 10 years now, so I'm curious.....
Panasonic has always been a Matsushita brand. Panasonic was the brand name that Matsushita created when they started exporting TV's to the US back in the 60's.
