To help boost sales Suzuki is offering a simple incentive plan – free gas for the summer, when you buy an SX4 sedan or hatchback. Here’s how it works: when you buy an SX4 sedan or hatch your local Suzuki dealer will throw in a gas card. The card is valued at $270 for the sedan and $290 for the hatchback, which is what Suzuki estimates SX4 owners will spend on gas over the course of three months.

Suzuki is hoping this added bonus will be enough to attract owners, although when stacked up against the price of a car, $270 doesn’t sound all that enticing. And Suzuki is a company that should be working hard to attract customers as it has been one of the hardest-hit automakers during the current recession.

Sales for June were down 78 percent over the same month in 2008, and while some of the drop can be attributed to the elimination of three models from the company’s lineup (XL-7, Forenza and Reno), both the Grand Vitara and SX4 have struggled with sales down last month 69.1 and 53.2 percent.

[Source: LeftLaneNews]

Suzuki doesn’t have a new vehicle for the New York Auto Show, but it’s resurrecting some SEMA Show cars that are so old old we had forgotten all about them and thought the company’s press release was about some new tricked out versions of the SX4.

But how can you forget a name like Zuk?

That’s right, the Suzuki-sportbike inspired Zuk has been dusted off and polished up for the Big Apple, this after it made it’s initial debut in Sin City back at the SEMA Show in 2006. The Zuk is based off the SX4 Crossover and features a Road Race Motorsports turbo kit, bolted to the factory 2.0-liter engine to make 300hp.

The car also features a complete aerodynamic overhaul, some big fart cans, a sizable rear spoiler and some 19-inch wheels. It reminds us of a more nostalgic time and makes us long for a copy of Modified Mag and Paul Walker on the big screen (the more things change, the more they stay the same…).

The exterior bodywork and paint is inspired from Suzuki’s GSX-R and Hayabusa sport bikes, while inside the motorcycle theme continues with a roll-cage that has a definite motorcycle-frame look to it.

The second SX4 is the SXForce, based on the SX4 Sport sedan version of the popular Suzuki model, and it first debuted at the SEMA Show in 2007. With 250hp and a carbon fiber body, the SXForce looks like it’s ready for track duty, and Suzuki claims it has been “track tested.”

It features Tein coilovers, a roll-cage, 18-inch Enkei wheels with 255/45/18 Toyo T1-R tires up front and 235/40/18s in the rear. It also features a Rotora six-piston calipers with 355mm rotors.

The sportbike theme continues on the SXForce with a motorcycle instrument cluster and controls, as well as Hayabusa handlebars instead of a traditional steering wheel.

Be sure to check out our coverage of the New York Auto Show starting Wednesday, April 8th.

GALLERY: Suzuki Zuk

GALLERY: Suzuki SX Force

More on these models as well as other past Suzuki SEMA Show cars after the jump:

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