Tosh: The Aerio SX is made by Suzuki in Japan. It has odd styling and very little cargo area. It never sold well in the USA. So in an attempt to sell more cars, Suzuki America adopted the Korean GM-Daewoo (Nubira) sedan and hatch into their line as the Forenza and Reno. A year later, when GM-Daewoo came out with the wagon, it became the Forenza wagon. Suzuki does own a share of the GM-Daewoo venture, so it is actually sort-of a real Suzuki. The Korean cars are selling well, although they share no parts in common with the "real" Japanese Suzukis.
For the record, my Forenza Wagon usually gets better fuel economy than the EPA figures . . . as high as 33mpg highway with the auto trans. Some professional reviewers have mentioned the same thing. Apparently the Forenza isn't designed specifically for the EPA test circuit like some cars.
Another part of the reason for the confusing marketing is that GM wanted to sell the Daewoo based cars in the USA, but didn't want to compete with the Cobalt. There was also continued legal wranglings between GM the former Daewoo organization in the USA after GM bought out the Daewoo car factory. . . So GM turned to their (former) financial partner, Suzuki, to sell it here. In Canada the same cars are sold as Chevrolet Optras. Go figure.
Frankly, it's a pretty nicely equipped little car, especially for the price, and should prove to be quite durable.
