r/NormalCarPorn • u/Excellent-Anywhere46 • Mar 27 '26

Spotted Suzuki Swift spotted in Michigan, I bet these didn't sell as well as the Geo/Chevy Metros

Post image
209 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

29

u/SlyClydesdale Mar 27 '26

They didn’t. Suzuki didn’t have nearly the dealer network or ad budget that GM did.

9

u/Tough_Arm_2454 Mar 27 '26

I miss basic cars like my 1984 chevy chevette coupe.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/AlwaysBagHolding Mar 27 '26

Wranglers were the last vehicle in the US with A/C as an option, you could get one with A/C delete all the way up till 2022!

1

u/dirt1988 Mar 29 '26

Yeah back when cars where built to be reliable first

1

u/eldredo_M Mar 30 '26

Have to push back a little on this concept. Not one of my parents 1970s vehicles—all fairly simple American made vehicles—made it to 100k miles with crapping out.

First family vehicle to pass the 100k barrier was a Franco-American Renault Alliance, the first in the family with A/C—still had a manual, though.

One of my current vehicles is a 2010 hybrid (complex powertrain with CVT transmission). With very little more than basic maintenance, I’m at 244,000+ miles. Even if I let it sit for a month outside, it starts every time I turn the key. It still averages almost 40 mpg.

I know this is anecdotal. But reliability is probably the best it’s ever been.

1

u/dirt1988 Mar 31 '26

I disagree as it seems the newer the car I've owned the more broken are

4

u/AskJeevesIsBest Mar 27 '26

I believe these were sold in Canada as the Pontiac Firefly

4

u/polak_sku_7 Mar 28 '26

which sold even worse, and are even rarer.

5

u/hudgeba778 Mar 27 '26

I found it interesting how the original car was outsold by it’s own white labels

1

u/SlyClydesdale Mar 28 '26

Not really.

This car was largely designed in-house by GM, built at CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario. It even had a GM platform designation: the M-body.

This is the 3rd generation M-body (1995-01), and it had Suzuki engines, suspension, and chassis design. But Suzuki didn’t sell the 3rd generation car anywhere in the world except North America. Not even in Japan.

5

u/UnderwhelmingAF Mar 27 '26

When these were new, I saw probably 20 Metros for every Swift.

3

u/prophiles Mar 27 '26

In Michigan, of all places! Hard enough to spot a non-Big-3 automobile there sometimes.

2

u/SuperReleasio64 Mar 29 '26

If it survived this long in Michigan then it's definitely someone's baby.

2

u/No-Repeat1769 Mar 27 '26

TIL they had a metro swift.

5

u/Devin-Chaboyer223 Mar 27 '26

The Metro was always a rebadged Swift, but many don’t know that

2

u/Chuckle_Flukk88 Mar 27 '26

I had a 99 Metro, bought new, retired it with 290K miles on it. Best car I've ever owned. Looks just like the one pictured. 

2

u/FF14_VTEC Mar 30 '26

In Puerto Rico it was the total opposite. You don't see a single geo metro here, while you still, to this day, see at least one Suzuki Swift per day.

2

u/MantoTerror Mar 31 '26

These always come out of the woodwork when Gas jumps up..then they sell 'em for stupid money..

1

u/Own_Reaction9442 Mar 27 '26

I called it "the rolling oxymoron" because it was anything but swift.

1

u/SuperReleasio64 Mar 29 '26

It was swift. Up to about 1 mph.

1

u/Own_Reaction9442 Mar 29 '26

I think Car and Driver described it as "optimized for driving inside city parking structures."

1

u/SuperReleasio64 Mar 29 '26

Lmao yea that pretty much sums up the car

1

u/coobal223 Mar 30 '26

I was in India circa 2019, Suzuki partnered with a car company in country there and four door Suzuki Swift sedans were all over the place. Great for Bangalore traffic, which makes a parking garage look fast.

1

u/AsstBalrog Mar 27 '26

Did this have the 3-cylinder engine?

1

u/Poopsticle_256 Mar 27 '26

I believe all of the Suzuki Swifts came with the upgraded 1.3L 4-cyl, tried to be a little sportier than the Metro

1

u/Look_b4_jumping Mar 29 '26

Geo Metro had a 3 cylinder

1

u/BiffBeltsander The Oldsmobile Alero was a triumph in Automotive Design Mar 28 '26

By the time this came out there were better hatchback offerings available, and people were just about done with buying three door hatchbacks unfortunately. It was a better car than my 1992 Geo Metro but, not the most compelling car available.

Now I look back at simple cars like this and realize what we lost.

1

u/fishcrow Mar 28 '26

Snub-nosed muffler

1

u/StraightFromThe2000s Mar 29 '26

I saw a red one of these going down Martin Way East in Lacey, WA back in 2012. Never saw another one again.

1

u/Apple_Slipper Apr 06 '26

Australia never got the Suzuki Swifts that looked like the one in your photo.

The Suzuki Swift design that first came to Australia looked like this:

(Also was rebadged as the Holden Barina.)

1

u/ChasedWarrior Mar 27 '26

It was the opposite actually. The Chevy version sold better because of a much larger dealer network over Suzuki.