Good points, but you neglected to point out the other reason Suzuki no longer makes small, tiny cars. And that is Congress. In the late 90′s congress mandated that cars meet certain impact safety requirements, thus came out larger door beams, air bags, etc. Legislating safety. They could have added these things to the existing platform, but i suspect they, like most auto manufacters, decided that it was simply easier to design a new platform, thus the larger XL7. That along with the higher profitability of SUV’s, killed the small cars.

-Charles