Chicago Preview: Suzuki bringing three Equator concepts to Windy City. Again.

Frank Filipponio — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Concept Cars, Truck, Suzuki

Click above for a larger image of Suzuki and Truckin' Magazine's Equator concept

At last year's Chicago Auto Show, Suzuki showed off three versions of its reworked Nissan Frontier pickup, the Equator. The three concepts were the RMZ-4, Quad and Quay, which represented trucks to haul a superbike, a quad and a boat, respectively. Since then, we've driven an Equator and heard that the production truck will sell for $17,995. Flash forward to the 2009 Chicago Auto Show and American Suzuki Motor Corp. is finally ready to introduce the "all-new" Equator with - wait for it - three concept trucks. This trio of trucks, however, have been customized by 4-Wheel & Off-Road, Off-Road and Truckin' magazines.

In the case of the Truckin' concept (shown above), an Equator has been lowered and fitted with a set of massive six-spoke alloys wrapped in rather serious-looking street rubber. So-equipped, it almost looks like this trucklet might canyon carve almost as well as the motorcycle in its bed. Well, perhaps that's stretching things a bit. The concept uses a massaged four-cylinder under the hood that probably couldn't come close to keeping up with that 999cc GSX-R sportbike in the bed. But it sure looks fun! We'll be sure to cover all three concepts along with everything else worth seeing when we get to the Windy City in about ten days.

[Source: Suzuki]

Chicago Preview: Suzuki bringing three Equator concepts to Windy City. Again. originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Drive: 2009 Suzuki Equator

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:57:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Suzuki, First Drives

2009 Suzuki Equator - Click above for high-res image gallery

Suzuki has chosen a rather dubious time to enter the pickup truck market with the 2009 Equator. As you are surely aware, trucks and SUV sales are way down from their apogee a few years back, and small cars like the ones that have historically filled Suzuki showrooms are all the rage. So, why would the Japanese automaker even bother with a mid-sized pickup truck based on the Nissan Frontier? That's a good question, and we aimed to find out when we grabbed the keys to Team Yellow's first-ever real pickup contender in the U.S. Read on to see what the Suzuki Equator has to offer.

Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Suzuki Equator

All Photos (C) Copyright Jeremy Korzeniewski / Weblogs Inc.

Continue reading First Drive: 2009 Suzuki Equator

First Drive: 2009 Suzuki Equator originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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