September Sales USA: Chrysler up 61%, Hyundai +44%, Ford +40% and GM +11%

The numbers are in for the month of September, and for the most part, they're looking good as industry wide deliveries were up 28% over a year ago according to a report from Autonews. Chrysler Group exec should be feeling extra happy as sales soared 61 percent over the same month a year ago, rising from 62,197 to 100,077 units.

Ford Motor Co, which includes the Ford, Mercury and Lincoln brands, recorded a 40 percent gain in September with sales of 160,375 units, whilst deliveries at GM climbed a far less impressive 11 percent from a year earlier to 173,031 units.

The Hyundai Group (Hyundai and Kia) had yet another solid month posting sales of 76,627 vehicles, which represents a 44 percent increase over last year.

With a few exceptions such as Suzuki, which saw its sales slide 12 percent to an embarrassing 1,641 units (even Porsche sold more cars - 1,971 units recording a 25 percent increase), and Volvo, which reported sales of 4,152 units, a 12 percent decrease from last year, most automakers posted gains:

Toyota Group (+17% - however, Lexus was down 8,9%), Honda (+26%), Mitsubishi (+5%), BMW Group (+20.5%), Mercedes-Benz Group (+15%), VW/Audi (+14%) and Nissan/Infiniti (+34%).

Source: Autonews (sub. req)

Suzuki SX-4's Darker Side: New SZ-L Special Edition for UK Market

A new special edition version of Suzuki's SX4 small crossover called the SZ-L is being launched onto the UK market this week. What makes the SZ-L special is a styling package that adds a number of exterior and interior features.

Available in two colors, 'Silky Silver Pearl' and 'Cosmic Black', the SZ-L model comes equipped with unique gunmetal colored roof rails, front grille, alloy wheels and front and rear skid plates.

Inside, the SZ-L gets Alcantara seat trim in light gray plus a three spoke leather steering wheel with gunmetal stitch detailing and a standard six disc in dash CD changer.

The SZ-L is based on the SZ4 grade and is available only in two wheel drive layout with a 120HP-strong 1.6-liter gasoline engine matched to a manual gearbox. Suzuki claims the small crossover can accelerate from zero to 62 mph (100km/h) in 10.7 seconds and return a combined fuel economy of 45.6mpg UK with CO2 emissions of 143g/km.

Pricing is set at £13,145 and includes the cost of the metallic paint.

Fire Hazard from Garmin Nuvi Prompts Recalls from Suzuki and Nissan

After Garmin announced a voluntary recall of 1.25 million units of its popular Nuvi GPS system at the end of August amidst concerns that the batteries could overheat and catch fire, Suzuki and Nissan followed with a recall on several vehicles equipped with the affected Garmin Nuvi navigation systems including the 750, 760, or 765 models for the same reason.

The recalled Garmin units can be found on certain Suzuki vehicles including the 2008-2010MY SX4 crossovers, 2010MY Grand Vitara SUVs, and 2009-2010MY Equator vehicles, and the 2008-2010MY Nissan Altima, Frontier, Pahtfinder, Rogue, Sentra, Versa and Xterra vehicles.

In both cases, the automakers will notify owners of the affected models, and the repairs will be performed by Garmin technicians who will replace the battery and insert a spacer on top of the battery free of charge.