Striking Gold – Suzuki Philippines celebrates 50 strong years across 3 mobility segments
It isn’t a wonder that Suzuki Philippines has come to its golden anniversary in the country. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it has been 50 years since the Japanese giant set foot on our soil and since then it has remained high on the mountain of transportation and mobility. There are Suzuki automobiles and Suzuki motorcycles, all mainstays on our roads. That makes 2. What many might not know, though, is that Suzuki has always had its hands (or feet) in the marine business as well with their outboard motors. What? A 3rd? Yes, and here’s how the journey has been thus far.
Suzuki Philippines marks its “golden anniversary” in the country
For many Filipinos, the wares of Suzuki Philippines had always been motorcycles. We do see a whole lot of them on the roads to this day. Later on, Suzuki also entered the 4-wheel segment bringing passenger cars to the masses; cars that made a lot of sense, were practically priced, and had all the necessary knick-knacks anyone from the lonely driver to the family man (or woman) might need. For some of us in the Media, we had a chance to (re-)experience these throughout a 2-day-1-night getaway.
Even as I speak, there are those among us who still have their hands and feet on the 2- and 4-wheelers of Suzuki PH’s One Suzuki Kick-Off Ride fleet, all for good reason. The brand remains to be quite “underrated” in a market dominated by the more common household names that begin with T or M or H or N, but being able to rekindle a relationship with a Suzuki – any Suzuki – is always well worth the time and experience. Always.
The said fleet is made up of motorcycles plus two 4-wheelers. From Burgmans (Burgmen?), Gixxers, and V-Stroms to the XL7 Hybrid and the Jimny 5-door, Suzuki Philippines made sure we had the newest and possibly the most significant offerings in their lineup for everyone to get to use. It was a rather long morning riddled with some delays and traffic, but as soon as the Ride flagged off from the Suzuki PH plant in Canlubang, it was clear that a statement wanted to be made. But I’ll get to that later.
If we were touch on what we got our grubby little hands on, it was the XL7 Hybrid. I must say that I am already familiar with Suzuki PH’s MPVs, both the XL7 and Ertiga, but as I said, getting to experience it again from behind the wheel is always a nice thing. We previously got our hands on a non-Hybrid XL7 and the Hybrid Ertiga GLX on separate occasions; while both performed almost exactly the same, driving the newer Hybrid XL7 did put things into perspective. That is Suzuki has a winning MPV formula.
For any 7-seater, space and comfort take the utmost consideration, and the XL7 has both. With the addition of the Integrated Starter Generator, you get to squeeze a little bit more fuel efficiency, too. How comfortable was it? As the assigned driver, one of our passengers had the middle row to himself, and let’s just say falling asleep despite the bumps and undulations on the road came very easily.
How efficient? Our path was riddled with a lot of steep inclines. Yes, the XL7 does have a 4AT, but despite all the needed mashing, we managed an impressive 9.8 kilometers per liter in full accessory and zero hypermiling mode.
We did want a chance to swap cars and drive the Jimny 5-Door on the way back to the Suzuki PH plant, but that wasn’t in the cars, apparently. That would’ve been nice, but if you’re curious as to what we have to say about it, our Review of the Jimny 5-Door is right here. I must admit that I do not have the chops for motorcycling, and as such I had to leave that to our Rider compatriots to do. But it is safe to say that all of them had nothing but good things to say about their 2-wheeled steeds.
Right, so nothing new here, right? We all know that Suzuki PH continues to bring motorcycles and passenger cars into the country. What makes this so big, so special? We mentioned earlier that many might not be aware of it, but Suzuki also locally deals with motorboats. More specifically, providing outboard engines to these marine-fairing vessels. As part of the contingent, I was fortunate enough to see and experience what Suzuki Philippines had on the waterfront
We won’t even wax lyrical or pretend that we are experts in this field of mobility and transportation because we simply are not. But what I did go through on the open water, I will share and describe as part of a general populace who, if I had not known any better, would think that the motors powering our boat were made by some difficult-to-pronounce-but-heavily-known-abroad brand and not a Suzuki. But it was powered by a Suzuki.
First, it was absolutely quiet. I’ve had some experiences being ferried between or going on tours around islands, and those boats were noisy. In automobile terms, they were as raucous as diesel engines. Our vessel, though, was not. It gave off barely any inkling that it was already idling, and even when our captain punched the throttle, all it put out was an impressive hum, okay, maybe a roar of sorts, but it was a sound that came from a motor that you know has more than enough oomph.
And oomph was indeed something it had a lot of. We were told that we were going anywhere from 30-50 knots. that translates to about 60 km/h minimum, and let me tell you, it felt and sounded glorious.
I never had proper sea legs, but yesterday’s experience courtesy of two 350 HP outboard engines did make my mind wander into the “what do I have to do to get myself a boat with motors like this?”. Fun was an understatement, as is the word “memorable”. It was an experience not too many of us get to go on, and Suzuki PH saw to it that we do get the full shebang of what they offer in the country to-date.
During the rest of the downtime we had, we were told that this milestone of Suzuki Philippines was something that the brand had hoped for, did not really expect, but is extremely proud of and humbled by, especially after the past year’s difficulties across the globe. We can all remember how the pandemic grounded any and all forms of motorized transportation to a veritable halt, and no one, not even Suzuki PH (or Suzuki headquarters for that matter) would have thought that despite their expansive offerings of vehicles on-land and on-sea, that they could bounce back. But they obviously did, and it seems they look to be here to stay for an even longer time into the future.
It was said in passing that Suzuki is of the mind that they want to expand from the on-road experience to everywhere else possible. Now, we hope we brought to light the fact that Suzuki Marine is one of the businesses that Suzuki PH does hold in the country and that Suzuki auto and motorcycles continue to fight the good fight in bringing modes of transportation to everyone. What we would like to add, though, is that Suzuki has also taken to the air in Japan with unmanned drone technology; while not exactly a commercial option, the brand has already begun an expansion that will literally take them to greater heights.
Land, sea, and soon enough on air, Suzuki PH is sure to bring in all that it can to further its foothold across all segments in all modes of transportation. Reaching 50 years and accomplishing 2 out of these 3 in an extremely strong fashion locally is but a sign of things to come. And we are sure it won’t take that long for Suzuki PH to run faster and fly high – higher – to and across all corners of the country.
