1987 Suzuki Samurai on 2040-cars

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Buy my Vitara, special-effects pro says in greatest commercial Suzuki never made

A month ago, Eugene Romanovsky posted an advertisement to sell "my best friend," his 1996 Suzuki Vitara, also known as the Sidekick in the United States, on YouTube. The 2.1 million people who have viewed the commercial so far may not have actually considered taking the car off his hands, but every one of them has had a good laugh. The production values of the video far surpass the production values that went into the making of the car itself. Romanovsky is a special-effects artist at the creative group Gravity in Tel Aviv. For the remaining few million of you who have not yet seen the #BuyMyViara video, it would be a disservice to tell reveal what's in it. Let's just say there's not much that isn't in it. The car's book value of a couple-grand belies the fact that it is truly the most amazing vehicle ever built. It does, after all, boast 96 horsepower and a manual transmission featuring a low gear. Trust us, just watch the video. Related Video: Weird Car News Suzuki SUV Videos viral video

Suzuki latest to admit to falsifying fuel economy tests

Suzuki is the latest automaker to be snagged in the broadening scandal of fuel economy falsification. Reuters reports that the head of the Japanese industrial giant admitted that it did not use the proper standards when testing its cars for fuel consumption. "The company apologizes for the fact that we did not follow rules set by the country," said CEO Osamu Suzuki (pictured bowing to reporters), as reported by Reuters. Over 2 million Suzuki vehicles are estimated to be affected. However Suzuki maintains that the company did not intentionally lie or mislead the public or government regulators about its vehicles' economy figures. Japan's transport ministry has ordered domestic automakers to resubmit those figures this week. Though Suzuki withdrew from the North American automobile market nearly four years ago, it remains the fourth largest in Japan (following Toyota, Nissan, and Honda) with particular sales strength in the Kei car segment. Like Honda and Yamaha, the company makes a variety of motorized products, including motorcycles, ATVs, and marine engines. The revelation follows hot on the heels of Mitsubishi's falsification, which broadened in scope from a few Kei cars to every vehicle it has sold in Japan stretching as far back as 1991. The controversy lead to Nissan taking control of a third of Mitsubishi's stock. Prior to that, and on the other side of the world, Volkswagen admitted to engineering its diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests. Government regulators around the world have launched investigations into numerous other automakers to see how much farther the growing epidemic of falsifying environmental credentials can spread. Related Video:

Suzuki testing Grand Vitara replacement that is now forbidden fruit

Suzuki might be dead in the US, but its cars are still thriving in many other markets. Aside from the updated SX4 and a slew of promising concepts at the Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki is getting ready to launch a much-needed replacement for the aged Grand Vitara, and our spy photographers recently caught the compact SUV testing in Sweden.
Judging by these spy shots, the replacement for the current Grand Vitara - it may or may not retain the Grand Vitara name - will take its styling cues from the Suzuki iV-4 Concept displayed at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show. These cues include the narrow, angular headlights, the sloped D-pillars and we even get a hint of the sculpted rear-wheel arches. We hear that the new Suzuki SUV could go on sale in Europe next year, so we'd expect it to debut later in 2014.