Hometown hero Ryan Dungey put a stop to Ryan Villopoto‘s winning streak, taking the victory before 48,846 supportive fans at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn.

The Red Bull KTM rider from nearby Belle Plaine, Minn., stalked Monster Energy Kawasaki‘s Villopoto for most of the race before taking the lead and winning the 20-lap race by just 0.903 seconds. The win put Dungey into second place in the standings ahead of Rockstar Suzuki‘s Davi Millsaps and perhaps more importantly, cut away at Villopoto’s points lead.

The main event started with holeshot specialist Mike Alessi of MotoConcepts Suzuki first around the first turn. It didn’t take long however before Villopoto with an inside pass to take over the lead. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider won five straight races heading into Minneapolis and took aim at his sixth in a row but Dungey remained close behind ready to strike. Continue Reading »

It’s been a little over two years since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and its ensuing tsunamis devastated the eastern coast of Japan, and the country is still struggling to rebuild from the tragedy that claimed thousands of lives and displaced countless families.

Some areas such as Hamamatsu, an industrial city home to several companies including Suzuki, were not as badly affected as places on the east coast, but they are making efforts to develop anti-tsunami measures to prevent or lessen the damage from future disasters.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Hamamatsu raising 5 billion yen (US$50.2 million) from member companies including 500 million yen (US$5 million) from Suzuki. The money will go to the development of a new seawall to protect Hamamatsu from tsunamis. Continue Reading »

Ryan Villopoto captured his fifth-consecutive AMA Supercross win and sixth in seven rounds with a victory in the main event at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider passed holeshot-taker Mike Alessi on the opening lap and led the rest of the way for the win. Alessi, riding the Motoconcepts Racing Suzuki RM-Z450, remained in the hunt for the first few laps but soon gave way to a group including Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard, Red Bull KTM‘s Ryan Dungey and Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart.

With Villopoto uncatcheable, it was up to that trio to provide the drama. Canard sat in second for most of the first seven laps until a Dungey pass on Lap 7. A couple of laps later, Stewart made a challenge on Dungey but crashed in the attempt, damaging his front wheel. Continue Reading »

Suzuki will produce a semi-faired variant of its GW250 for Asia and Europe. The new Suzuki Inazuma GW250S, which adds a half-fairing and windscreen to the small-displacement standard, will be officially introduced April 20 at the Shanghai Motor Show in China. As with the original GW250, the S version will first be available in China with Italian site Motociclismo.it reporting the GW250S will be soon after be offered for Japan and Europe.

An earlier prototype of the Suzuki GW250S (pictured here) was actually unveiled last October at the 2012 China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition (CIMAMotor) alongside a police-spec version dubbed the GW250J. Both models were produced by Haojue, Suzuki’s Chinese joint venture and the country’s leading motorcycle manufacturer.

The GW250J has already been pressed into service by police in China but the final production version won’t finally be introduced until the Shanghai show. The GW250J’s handlebars are set higher than the base GW250, and the same appears to be true of the GW250J. This would give the GW250S a more upright seating position which, combined with the added wind protection, would make it more suited for sport-touring duties. Continue Reading »

American Suzuki Motor Corporation is officially no more, with the company’s operating assets transferred to the newly-formed Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. on March 31, 2013. The new company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation, will be the sole distributor of Suzuki motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, marine engines and automotive parts for the continental U.S. and Alaska.

U.S. bankruptcy court judge Scott C. Clarkson approved American Suzuki’s Chapter 11 plan on Feb. 28, but the plan did not actually start until the end of March. The new company assumes the former company’s warranty coverage, while keeping 832 of 930 Suzuki dealerships. Suzuki Motor of America says it is fully committed to long-term growth in the American market, promising the launch of several new products.

American Suzuki is now in the process of settling all claims with its former car dealer network and trade creditors following the decision to quit the automobile business. Continue Reading »

The California Air Resources Board has agreed to settlements with Suzuki and Piaggio for selling motorcycles that the companies did not disclose could be modified to exceed the state’s strict emission standards.

Suzuki was hit with the larger of the two penalties, agreeing to a fine of $3,020,000, though the amount could be reduced by $1,812,000 if Suzuki follows certain provisions. The penalty is in addition to the previous fine of $885,000 levied by the Environmental Protection Agency for selling 25,396 LT-R450 ATVs and 62 RMX450Z dirtbikes with a racing map programmed into their ECUs that was not certified or tested. This racing map is not initially accessible to customers, unless they buy aftermarket devices to unlock the higher-performance engine mapping.

Under EPA and CARB regulations, manufacturers are required to disclose any such engine modifications when seeking approval to sell its vehicles. CARB did not specify the models involved in its own case, so other models besides the ones in the EPA case may be involved. CARB does say engine mapping significantly increases smog-forming emissions and therefore should have been disclosed. Continue Reading »

When American Suzuki announced it was filing for Chapter 11 and dropping out of the U.S. automobile market last November, its counterparts in Canada said it would continue to sell cars for that market. It now appears that will only last for one more year, as Suzuki Canada announced it would also stop selling cars following the 2014 model year to focus on its powersports operations.

The move wasn’t entirely a surprise. Canada is a much smaller market than the U.S. According to the Financial Post, Suzuki sold about 5,500 cars in Canada in 2012, representing a 0.3% share of the market. By comparison, American Suzuki says it sold  1,764 cars in February 2013 alone, and that’s with customers knowing the company is quitting the business. Importing cars to Canada costs a lot of money and the sales do not appear to justify the expense.

The reason for the delay was likely because Suzuki Canada already had an order for a supply of 2014 models from the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. Suzuki Canada says that it and the parent company came to this decision after  “monitoring market conditions carefully and, after reviewing the long-term viability of automotive production for Canada”  following the American Suzuki announcement. Continue Reading »

American Suzuki raised some eyebrows after news broke yesterday the company was cancelling franchise agreements with numerous dealerships in the U.S. The company was already under close scrutiny after making the bold decision to quit selling cars to focus on powersports when it filed for Chapter 11 in November. Reducing its dealer network appears to go against that idea, at least on the surface.

Facing some backlash for the decision to cut dealerships, American Suzuki has spoken up, explaining the decision. Larry Vandiver, American Suzuki sales and marketing senior director explains the actual number of dealerships being cut loose is 98, not the the 100-200 dealerships initially reported by PowersportsBusiness.

“We’re not cutting 200 dealers. Approximately 90 percent of our dealers received a letter that their contract has been assumed by ASMC,” Vandiver tells PowersportsBusiness. “It’s all part of our restructuring under Chapter 11 to secure long-term growth of Suzuki.” Continue Reading »

When American Suzuki announced it was shutting down its automobile business, the company said it intended to focus on its powersports operations. It comes as a surprise then to some dealers that Suzuki is not renewing all of its dealership agreements.

According to DealerNews, dealerships received letters this week from American Suzuki notifying them whether their franchise agreements would be renewed with the newly formed Suzuki Motor America. Some dealerships received letters telling them their agreements would not be picked up and they would no longer be authorized Suzuki dealers as of March 31.

“ASMC is assuming certain dealer agreements and other contracts and assigning them to Purchaser, while the majority of ASMC’s remaining contracts will be rejected,” reads a copy of the letter obtained by DealerNews. Continue Reading »

Ryan Villopoto continues to be in championship form, taking his third consecutive victory and sixth of the season with a win at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Indianapolis round of the 2013 AMA Supercross Championship.

The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider had a calculated, methodical race to take the win and expand his championship lead to nine points ahead of Davi Millsaps.

Millsaps took the holeshot in a chaotic start to the main event that saw several riders go down at the opening corner. Millsaps’ lead was shortlived, as the Rockstar Suzuki rider went too far wide on a turn, allowing Yoshimura Suzuki‘s James Stewart to take the lead. Millsaps managed to stay ahead of Villopoto with Red Bull KTM‘s Ryan Dungey also in the mix. Continue Reading »