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The Kizashi was a bit of an abortion, literally. When the Kizashi was on the drawing board, GM had control of Suzuki. They originally planned to use GM's Epsilon platform. About a third of the way through, GM pulled back but still helped Suzuki quickly execute their own half-baked (IMHO) platform. GM also pulled their planned high-feature V6 (3.6DI) so the Suzuki launched with only a mediocre (by today's high standards) 4 cylinder. By the time the Kizashi hit our shores, Volkswagen was Suzuki's steward.
Suzuki has had horrible badge-engineered cars and trucks for quite a while. So their dealer network is anemic, with very few stand alone stores. They are second and third franchises, like red headed step children. The dealers are just not equipped to give the level of service and support that the Kizashi's competitors can deliver.
Suzuki is worse off than Hyundai was in the early 90's.
The Kizashi is not a bad product. It's a solid effort and a decent car. But a decent car in a field of fabulous cars doesn't cut it.
Maybe next time.
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