Suzuki Aerio
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The Suzuki Aerio (also called the Liana – ''Life In A New Age'' – in China, Pakistan, Europe, Israel, South Asia, Taiwan and Australia or Baleno for sedan version in Indonesia) is a subcompact car that was built by Suzuki. It was introduced in 2001 as a replacement for the Suzuki Esteem/Baleno, with a tall 5-door SX model hatchback (for maximum inner room efficiency) and a 4-door sedan body. It featured two different 16-valve gasoline
inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
s, with 1.5-litre and 1.8-litre, this one capable of JIS. Production was discontinued in 2007 around the world and replaced by the Suzuki SX4, except in Pakistan (2006 to 2014) and China where production was continued by
Changhe Changhe, officially Jiangxi Changhe Automobile Co Ltd, is a Chinese automobile manufacturer based in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China.


Overview

Models in
North America got a larger and more powerful 2.0-litre engine with . A 5-speed
manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...
was standard with a 4-speed automatic optional. All-wheel-drive was available, but only with the automatic. American Aerios came in two trim levels: the S and GS (2002–2004), S and SX (2005), and Base and Premium (2006–2007). Key changes over the years included an upgrade to a new 2.3-liter engine in 2004, a major styling and interior refresh in 2005 (replacing the digital instruments with conventional analog ones), and the standardization of antilock brakes in 2006. Only the Aerio sedan remained for 2007, as the hatchback had been shelved to make room for the new 2007 SX4 hatchback. Likewise, the Aerio sedan bowed out at year's end, making way for the 2008 SX4 Sport sedan. Throughout its run, the Aerio was distinct for being the most affordable car in America to offer
all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
. In
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, where the car was called Liana (an acronym for ''Life In A New Age''), it was seen as a more affordable alternative to
small family car The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C ...
s or to
mini MPV Mini MPV— an abbreviation for mini multi-purpose vehicle— is a vehicle size class for the smallest size of minivans/MPVs. The mini MPV size class sits below the compact MPV size class and the vehicles are often built on the platforms of B-s ...
s, introducing a new generation of
Suzuki M engine The Suzuki M engine family is a line of automobile engines from Suzuki. Ranging in displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L, it is a modern engine line with dual overhead cams, 16 valves, and multi-point fuel injection (MPFI). M13A The M13A ...
s, with 1.3-litre and 1.6-litre I4 engine.
All-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
was available on the bigger engine. In 2004, the car was restyled with a look that closer resembled the Japanese version, and also received a
Diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
, with a 16-valve version of the 1.4-litre HDi engine supplied by
PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...
, capable of thanks to common rail direct injection and a
variable geometry turbocharger Variable-geometry turbochargers (VGTs), occasionally known as variable-nozzle turbines (VNTs), are a type of turbochargers, usually designed to allow the effective aspect ratio of the turbocharger to be altered as conditions change. This is done ...
. The Liana remained in production in Pakistan in 1.3-litre and 1.6-litre variants until 2014.


Appearances in media

The Liana was best known for its appearances as the Reasonably Priced Car in ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
s '' Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car'' segment. Celebrity guests would appear on the show every week to be interviewed and to set a lap time in a saloon model Suzuki Liana. The primary car, along with spare cars, were kept stock except for a roll cage and racing seats which were added as safety measures. In its three-year tenure on Top Gear, the Liana covered 1,600 laps of the circuit; its tires and brakes were changed 100 times; and it required six new clutches, two new hubs, driveshafts, wishbones, struts and gear linkages and a replacement wing mirror. The Liana was used from its first show until its replacement by a
Chevrolet Lacetti The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...
in the show's spring 2006 season. Until 2015, it enjoyed a partial retirement, and was still brought back when the guest was a Formula 1 driver.


Pikes Peak

In 2001, Suzuki specially built spaceframe racing cars for hillclimb races with a bodyshell to resemble the Aerio dubbed the ''Suzuki Aerio P950
Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou S ...
Special'' driven by its rally team manager and former rally driver,
Nobuhiro Tajima , nicknamed "Monster", is a hillclimb racer, tuning shop owner, rally team manager and former rally driver who is best known for his participation in Suzuki's rallying program as well as his triumphs at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in ...
. Tajima retired from the race, one mile (1.6 km) short of the finishing line suffering from mechanical failures, teammate Yutaka Awazuhara took the fourth overall in a Grand Vitara. Tajima would finish as runner up in the All Japan Dirt Trial Championship that year with the same car and won the Race to the Sky hillclimb in 2003, before it was rebuilt as a Grand Vitara, then in 2007 as an XL7, breaking the overall course record at Pikes Peak.


Gallery


Pre-facelift


Sedan

File:Suzuki Baleno (Aerio) (front), Denpasar.jpg, Suzuki Baleno sedan (front; Indonesia) File:Suzuki Baleno (Aerio) (rear), Denpasar.jpg, Suzuki Baleno sedan (rear; Indonesia)


Hatchback

File:Suzuki Liana front 20080208.jpg, Suzuki Liana hatchback (front; Germany) File:Suzuki Liana Rear.jpg, Suzuki Liana hatchback (rear; Germany) File:Suzuki Aerio SX -- 04-10-2011 front.jpg, Suzuki Aerio SX (front; US) File:Suzuki Aerio SX -- 01-30-2012.jpg, Suzuki Aerio SX (rear; US)


Facelift


Sedan

File:Suzuki Liana 1.4 DDiS Comfort Facelift (EZ 8.2005) front.JPG, Suzuki Liana Comfort sedan (front; Germany) File:Suzuki Liana 1.4 DDiS Comfort Facelift (EZ 8.2005) rear.JPG, Suzuki Liana Comfort sedan (rear; Germany) File:Suzuki Aerio 2.3 GLS 2006.jpg, Suzuki Aerio GLS sedan (front; Chile) File:Suzuki Aerio 002 (cropped).JPG, Suzuki Aerio sedan (rear; Japan)


Hatchback

File:2004 Suzuki Liana GLX 1.6 Front.jpg, Suzuki Liana GLX hatchback (front; UK) File:2004 Suzuki Liana GLX 1.6 Rear.jpg, Suzuki Liana GLX hatchback (rear; UK) File:Suzuki Aerio SX 1.6 GLX 2007 (rear).jpg, Suzuki Aerio SX (rear; Chile)


Changhe Suzuki Liana

Changhe-Suzuki in China released a new 1.4-litre Liana hatchback in October 2010, called Liana a+, which has been sold alongside 1.6-litre versions. Prior to 2013, the Liana retained the same styling as the international version. The Liana was facelifted for sedan and hatchback models with styling unique to China in April 2013. File:2015 Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6, front 8.5.18.jpg, Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 hatchback (China, second facelift) File:2015 Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6, rear 8.5.18.jpg, Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 hatchback (China, second facelift) File:Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 sedan 02 China 2017-03-22.jpg, Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 sedan (China, second facelift) File:Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 hatch facelift China 2016-04-11.jpg, Changhe-Suzuki Liana A6 hatchback (China, third facelift)


References


External links

{{Suzuki timeline (North America) 1985 to date Aerio Liana Compact cars Mini MPVs Sedans Hatchbacks Front-wheel-drive vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 2001 Cars discontinued in 2019