... ...Click here to watch a video of how ATVs are made at the Suzuki plant in Rome.
Journalists from about a dozen ATV and outdoors magazines wrapped up a visit to Rome on Wednesday after test riding and watching the production process of Suzuki's newest ATV model.
Suzuki Manufacturing of America in Rome began making the new KingQuad 450 about a month ago, in preparation for its official retail launch. The model should be available at Suzuki ATV dealers beginning Friday.
The KingQuad 450 - a less powerful version of the KingQuad 700 that the Rome plant began making last year - is the fourth ATV model manufactured at the Rome facility, which opened in 2002 and now employs about 350 people.
"This has been a banner year for us," said Alan Horne, sales supervisor for the Rome Suzuki plant. "We've seen a significant capacity increase in a short period of time."
The plant
Joe Kosch, ATV Design, and Kent Lester, All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine, talk during the test for the new 2007 KingQuad 450. Ryan Smith / RN-T |
is expected to produce more than 60,000 vehicles this year, up from about 45,000 ATVs in 2005. The company is aiming to improve its output to 315 vehicles per day by the end of this year, up from 182 per day in 2005.
In announcing its latest ATV model, Suzuki invited some of its top dealers and journalists from ATV magazines to visit the Rome manufacturing facility this week, as well as to test ride and photograph the new model for articles and product reviews in their publications.
Horne described the new model as an expansion of an already successful product line.
"We're trying to capitalize on the popularity of our KingQuad," he said, noting that Suzuki made its first KingQuad ATVs in the 1980s.
The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the KingQuad 450 is $6,499, which is $1,000 less than the KingQuad 700.
Suzuki's KingQuad line has also helped the Rome facility boost its export sales to about 32 percent this year, Horne said, up from about 25 percent in 2005, when almost all of the exports were to Canada.
The Rome plant, at 1520 Technology Parkway, is Suzuki's only fully-owned U.S. manufacturing facility. The plant makes about half of Suzuki's ATVs worldwide, while the rest is divided between two plants in Japan, also the location of the company's headquarters.
