1991 Freightliner Conv Cab Truck Tractor W Sleeper on 2040-cars

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Indian diamond merchant gives 600 new cars to his staff

NEW DELHI — India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped a diamond merchant present hundreds of new cars as gifts to his employees on Thursday. Six hundred employees of Hari Krishna Exporters, a diamond trading company run by Savji Dholakia, received cars made by Indian manufacturer Maruti Suzuki, while around 1,000 more staffers were offered gifts of cash deposits and apartments in a huge outdoor ceremony in Surat, Gujarat. Indians often give each other gifts in the run-up to Diwali, a major Hindu festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil that this year falls on Nov. 7. Modi addressed the prize-giving in his home state of Gujarat via video link, as well as presenting some of the employees with car keys in the capital New Delhi. Dholakia is famous across India for giving lavish gifts to his employees at Diwali, including hundreds of apartments in 2016's ceremony. The showroom value of the 600 cars would be more than $2 million. Gift-giving in the latter part of the year when several Hindu festivals are celebrated provides a major boost to India's economy. The gifts were part of a program targeting staff who have given loyal service to the diamond trader. "The aim of this program was to reward employees' loyalty and dedication towards the company," Dholakia said in a Facebook post.Reporting by Alasdair Pal Related Video: Image Credit: Reuters Auto News Weird Car News Suzuki

Junkyard Gem: 1998 Suzuki Swift, Schnorchel Edition

To enable the use of internal-combustion engines underwater, German submarines during the later years of World War II used a pipe system swiped from the Dutch to suck in air and spit out exhaust. This rig was known as the Schnorchel, and a similar setup can be used on modern trucks to keep the engine from inhaling water or dust during river-fording or off-roading. In fact, you can buy a new Ford Bronco with a factory schnorchel (or snorkel, if you prefer the English spelling) right now. Purchasers of new Suzuki Swifts, however, had no such factory — or even aftermarket — option, and so the final owner of today's Junkyard Gem had to fabricate one using hardware-store components. Yes, this is a fully functional air-intake snorkel, made from PVC pipe and entering the engine compartment via not-so-precision holes sliced through the fender and inner fender. Once in the engine compartment, the pipe connects directly to the engine's throttle body. Sure, for serious underwater use you need to waterproof the distributor plus any sensitive electrical components, not to mention find some way to keep water from getting into transmission vents and the like. We can assume, however, that this snorkel wasn't intended for sustained underwater use. Other limitations of the Swift as an off-road machine, such as suspension design, ground clearance, and lack of four-wheel-drive, may have become apparent once the snorkel was installed. There are some wheel flares installed, to enable the use of oversized wheels and tires. The Swift is the same car as the Suzuki-built Geo Metro, which became the Chevrolet Metro starting in the 1998 model year. Known in its Japanese homeland as the Cultus, these cars were sold in every far-flung corner of the world. It appears that you could buy a new Cultus (with Margalla badges) in Pakistan as recently as a few years ago. This isn't the first interestingly modified second-generation Swift I've found in a Denver-area car graveyard in recent years. Perhaps the "Slokyo Drift" 1996 Swift was modified by the same person. There's just something about a tiny, fully depreciated car that inspires creativity. The 1998 Geo Metro was available with either a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine or a 1.3-liter four-banger, but every new Swift sold here that year was a big-block car with the 1.3 and its 70 horsepower. This one even has the five-speed manual transmission, for added driving fun. Just 166,280 miles on the clock.

Osamu Suzuki announces retirement at age 91

TOKYO — Suzuki's 91-year-old chairman, Osamu Suzuki, announced he will retire in June, stepping aside for a new leader to navigate the shift to electric cars and fight off competition from tech firms such as Tesla and Apple. The chairman, after heading for more than four decades the company that his wife's grandfather founded, is leaving his son Toshihiro Suzuki, already president and CEO, to hold the reins of the company. Osamu told reporters on Wednesday he decided to retire after the company welcomed its 100th anniversary last year and its new management plan won approval. But he said he will "remain active" as an adviser. "I will neither run away nor hide," the patriarch said, who has repeatedly declared in the past he will be a "lifelong non-retiree." The company also announced on Wednesday it will invest one trillion yen ($9.45 billion), mostly on electrification technology, over five years. The younger Suzuki said the company needed to respond to a global push towards lower emissions. "Carbon neutral is the focus now. Suzuki must not fall behind this global trend," he said. The announcement by Japan's fourth-biggest automaker comes less than a week after rival Honda appointed a new CEO, who said he would consider alliances to make bold decisions. Carmakers, particularly smaller players such as Suzuki, are seen at a disadvantage due to the huge cost of developing EVs and technologies such as autonomous driving. Suzuki, alongside other automakers such as Mazda and Subaru, tied up with Toyota in 2019 to slash development and manufacturing costs. Osamu Suzuki, who joined Suzuki Motor in 1958, became president in 1978 and doubled as chairman in 2000. During his tenure, the company solidified its presence as the top maker of compact cars. He spearheaded the company's decision to enter its key Indian market in 1983. Maruti Suzuki, which the carmaker owns a majority stake in, is India's top carmaker, selling every second car in the country. In 2016, Suzuki stepped down as CEO to take responsibility for the firm's use of incorrect testing methods to calculate vehicle mileage, but he remained chairman. Osamu, who waved and said "bye-bye" at the end of Wednesday's news conference, will be appointed as senior adviser upon retirement.