There have been rumours going around that Suzuki may or may not be in talks with Toyota to use the Hilux as a platform for a Suzuki Bakkie. We have also seen the possibility of a Suzuki badged Fortuner. But will this even happen? Or may Suzuki be looking at a design of their own?
Back in 2009 the Suzuki Equator was launched in the USA and it was based on the Nissan Frontier and also assembled by Nissan. The vehicle was shown for the first time at the 2008 Chicago Motor Show and was priced at $17 220 or about R175 000 back then.
Power for base Extended Cab models came from a 4-cylinder engine. A V6 was optional on Extended Cab models and standard with the Crew Cab. Both engines were supplied by Nissan.
The base 2.5 L QR25DE inline-4 produced 113kW at 5 200rpm and 232Nm at 4 400rpm, and was a rear-wheel-drive. It came with either a five-speed manual transmission or a five-speed automatic.
The 4.0 L VQ40DE V6 engine developed 195kW at 5 600rpm and 381Nm at 4 000rpm. It came standard with a five-speed automatic and was available with four-wheel-drive.
The Equator won Peterson’s 4Wheel & Off-Road’s 2009 4×4 of the Year, beating out the Dodge Ram 1500, Ford F150, Hummer H3, Kia Borrego, and Toyota Sequoia. Sales of the Suzuki Equator since 2009 have been 5 808 overall, and it rarely sold over 200 units per month.
The Suzuki Equator was soon after discontinued for the Canadian market and 2012 saw the last sales for the United States market.
Jump forward to today and the rumours are flying around once again about a new Suzuki Bakkie also named the Equator. Images shared on the web are purely speculative and mostly renders. But who knows, paired with either the 2.4GD6 from Toyota or the 2.4 Petrol that will be available in the 4Runner, this might just be the bakkie Suzuki would like to sell, especially in our bakkie crazed market!
