Suzukis in the Mediterranean

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KuroNekko
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

I just got back from a Euro trip. It was my first time over there and the reason I wasn't present on here for the last few weeks. While over there, I noted the strong presence of Suzukis in the Mediterranean locations I visited. In fact, in most of these cities, I saw more Suzukis than Hondas.

My first stop was Barcelona, Spain. However, I didn't notice a single Suzuki there. Most vehicles were SEATs while many others were French brands like Citroen and Renault. German brands were present too but not nearly as popular as SEATs and French brands. The strong presence of SEAT isn't too surprising given SEAT is a Spanish brand (owned by VW) with headquarters near Barcelona. Toyotas were the most popular Japanese car.

My next stop was Nice, France. French cars everywhere but the Suzuki Swift was occasionally running among them. The Swift was certainly the most popular Suzuki there from what I could tell.

After Nice was Venice, Italy. The part I stayed in doesn't allow any street vehicles (there are nothing but foot paths, pedestrian bridges, and channels) so I really didn't see anything other than boats in the water. Some did have Suzuki outboard motors. Does that count?
:lol:

After Venice, I took a train down to Rome, Italy. Rome was full of FIATs, especially the 500. Interestingly, the city was also full of SMART cars. These were very popular there. The Suzukis there mostly consisted of the Swift, but I occasionally spotted a Jimny and SX4 (including the FIAT-branded version). Toyotas again were popular Japanese cars and I noted RAV4s and Daihatsu Terios as well as subcompacts like the Toyota Aygo and Yaris.

After Rome, Italy, we went down to the island of Santorini in Greece. Wow, Suzukis everywhere there. In fact, I'd say they were the most popular Japanese brand and I saw more of these than Toyotas there. Many are rentals for the visitors and you can rent a Suzuki Jimny for about 50 to 60 Euros a day. These were very popular given the convertible SUV form. I also spotted a few of the new Vitaras as well as Grand Vitaras. The local Greeks drove older models which were sold as the Sidekick and Vitara here in the US. A good number of these were modded for offroad use. SX4s were also present but not as popular as the Jimny. I was very tempted to rent a Jimny but opted for an ATV instead given I didn't need a car and ATVs are way easier to park whether visiting the towns or the beaches. ATVs are allowed on all the roads there so they are pretty much an alternative to a scooter/moped. The ATVs also cost about half the price of a car to rent so I went with that instead. That being said, I was definitely excited to see the Jimnys all over the place there.

While Suzuki has been gone from the US for nearly 5 years now, it was nice to see them with a noticeable presence in other countries. While I didn't spot a single Kizashi in all of those countries (go figure), it was nice to see some late model Suzukis on the road.

I took this photo of a Jimny in Santorini near my hotel. It's really a great car for that place.
Suzuki Jimny in Santorini.jpg
Suzuki Jimny in Santorini.jpg (96.91 KiB) Viewed 3607 times
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
SamirD
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Very cool trip report! With all the countries you saw, I was a little surprised you didn't spot at least one Kizashi as it would have been an amply large car for those markets and probably more competitive in terms of the car itself (probably was much more expensive though).
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