Suzuki has officially halted production at its CAMI joint-venture plant with General Motors for the rest of 2009. Suzuki says it’s committed to the CAMI plant, but will have no use for it for the rest of the year. The Ingersoll, Ontario factory produces the Suzuki XL7 SUV alongside the Chevrolet Equinox and Pontiac Torrent.
The CAMI plant produced 12,407 XL7 SUVs last year, but has only made 4 units since the start of 2009. Suzuki cites the weak economic climate for the drastic drop off. “It is an America-specific model,” Suzuki spokesman Hideo Kojima told Automotive News. “But since the subprime loan problem, that segment has been hit the hardest. So we decided to suspend it.”
The XL7 hasn’t been canned, but Suzuki wouldn’t comment on when production might resume. However, the Japanese automaker says it is committed to its CAMI joint-venture. “The possibility that CAMI would be forced into closure or a production stop is 120 percent impossible,” CEO Osamu Suzuki said.
The temporary demise of the XL7 leaves the Equator as Suzuki’s lone North American-made product.
05/13, 4:26 PM
posted by:
CajuRican
Not a tear will be shed.
05/13, 4:52 PM
posted by:
Mutant@DCX
Torrent is done too, so Cami is toast
05/13, 4:59 PM
posted by:
JakeK66
4 XL7’s from 2009?!?! Collector Car Alert!
05/13, 5:02 PM
posted by:
Borat
We all aware how Benz f*cked Chrysler. Here is example of how GM f*cked little Suzuki. Who is a bigger villain?
05/13, 5:12 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
Does Suzuki need to still add more water to the Kizashi?
05/13, 5:16 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Not water mayer_ray, wasabi.
05/13, 5:19 PM
posted by:
Borat
Saki does not taste bad if you already loaded
05/13, 5:29 PM
posted by:
A4
12,407 units to… 4. Man the economy is bad.
05/13, 6:09 PM
posted by:
JakeK66
You lose all credibility when you start quoting that it’s anything over 100% likely to not happen. Like, what? We would have thought 100% isn’t enough?
05/13, 8:32 PM
posted by:
2WheeledSpeed
Why in the heck does Suzuki even sell cars here? I almost never see them, I’d bet money on them selling more of their wonderful bikes than they do cars.
05/13, 8:33 PM
posted by:
2WheeledSpeed
Of course now that I said that someone will come and blow me away with actual facts… That’s what I get for being too lazy to research anything
05/14, 9:03 AM
posted by:
moparsalesman1
@ 2wheeled speed
we sell suzukis at my store as well and they do really well. People love the SX4 and it is a way better deal than the matrix/vibe, civic, corolla. better warranty more hp more standard features available awd, blue tooth navi, thel list goes on and on
05/14, 9:24 PM
posted by:
AudiS4
NOOOOOO, why? someone please tell me why? Never should have been built in the first place in my opinion.
05/16, 1:23 PM
posted by:
saabaru1
“Suzuki has officially halted production at its CAMI joint-venture plant”
“The possibility that CAMI would be forced into closure or a production stop is 120 percent impossible,”
…UM???
Thats probably not 4 MODEL YEAR ’09s, right? Just BUILT in ‘09 and some of those built in ‘08 were MY 09’s too?