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Automotive News & Views Suzuki's US Future -- Good or Dismal
75 messages, Last post on Jan 26, 2010 at 7:09 AM
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 07, 2008 6:10 pm) But they do have a very long warranty...7-years/100,000 miles is very good when compared to just about anyone. While they're not the least expensive, they offer something different and more interesting than the typical appliance that is sold at their price level. Not being the biggest brand is a PLUS...for $15k, you won't find your neighbor driving the same car as you.
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Replying to: hudsonthedog (Apr 08, 2008 6:14 am) But others have the 100K warranty as well: GM, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi IIRC? Mitsu has a longer B2B warranty as well, beating pretty much everyone bumper to bumper. Not being the biggest brand can be a plus, until you look around and suddenly discover you are one of the smallest and your sales are shrrrriiiiiinking...
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 08, 2008 8:14 am) Not being the biggest brand can be a plus, until you look around and suddenly discover you are one of the smallest and your sales are shrrrriiiiiinking... That would be true if we were talking about Isuzu (gone next year) or Mitsubishi (sales in the US down 14% in 2008), but not for Suzuki (sales down 5% in a market that's down 8%).
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Replying to: hudsonthedog (Apr 08, 2008 1:04 pm) As for shrinking sales at Suzuki, I agree that their sales are far from falling off a cliff, but you have to keep in mind that they are exporting most of their cars to the States from Asia (the only one I can't remember is the XL7 - it has GM running gear, is it built in a GM plant here in NA?). As such, there has to be a minimum volume to make the business case for keeping operations going over here, and I think their big sales plan developed a few years ago that went FLOP loudly with the recent resignation of the NA CEO was in fact created to deal with this problem. They need to double their sales in the U.S. for the business model of doing so to make sense. The same is not true of motorcycles and ATVs however, from what I can tell. That is actually a much more profitable business for Suzuki in America than cars and SUVs are. The Equator could add substantially to sales at minimal cost to Suzuki, beginning this summer. I am sure that is Suzuki's hope. Me, I remember when Mitsu rebadged a Dodge Dakota and sold 3000 of them all year (the year being 2007 - what the heck was that Mitsu pick-up even called? I have already forgotten). That model is now being discontinued. I think it likely that sales of the Equator (what a name!) will follow a similar path. After all, why not just buy the Frontier? there are more dealers in the Nissan network by far, better selection of options and configurations when buying new, better availability of parts and know-how for servicing (especially a few years on), and no advantage to the Suzuki label beyond the 100K warranty.
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 08, 2008 4:33 pm) The Raider was a Dakota on steroids. In their commercial it was supposed to scare the other trucks. I guess the Raider ended up going home with it's tail behind it. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 08, 2008 4:33 pm) Mitsubishi has much to make up for and not much coming in the way of new product. The updated Galant is just "updated." The Lancer is their "hit" and it's not making up for the losses in the rest of the lineup. Add all of that to the cost of Mitsubishi's self-owned and vastly under-utilized US plant...and Mitsubishi's in bigger trouble than Suzuki. If they make this "miraculous turnaround," more power to them. I've just heard all that before.
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Replying to: hudsonthedog (Apr 09, 2008 10:50 am) But I think the American plant makes Galants and Eclipses, where sales are DOWN substantially, so that's a prob for Mitsu. By contrast, Suzuki doesn't manufacture ANY of its models locally, so the yen-dollar exchange rate just keeps dragging profits down. And with 100K sales per year, it is inevitable that dealers will begin to stray from the pack in ones and twos, except for the megastores with 20 brands on sale. And megastores aren't very good for Suzuki's interests, as little effort is made to promote Suzuki specifically at those types of places...
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 09, 2008 1:17 pm) Suzuki has been pushing a national TV and print ad campaign, which seems to be much more prominent than the subtle ads being run by Mitsubishi. And Suzuki does indeed produce models locally...the XL7 is produced in a plant co-owned by Suzuki and GM just across the border in Ingersoll, Ontario.
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Replying to: hudsonthedog (Apr 10, 2008 6:03 am) |
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Mitsubishi Outlander SUV, and it's sales upswing. Now, I would not say that Mitsubishi is out of the woods, but, I didn't chew my fingernails off worrying about them when I bought my '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS, either. I think they'll ride this storm out. Bringing an all-EV i-MIEV to the States with an improved range worked out wouldn't hurt them, too. The Galant re-design is an improvement and the EVO X will also help them out a bunch. I don't worry about Mitsubishi's success in the States nearly as much as I might worry about Suzuki's continued staying power in NA. They're going to have to start selling a lot more SX4's, XL-7's, Grand Vitara's, etc. to keep afloat. 2008 may be very telling on their NA future. |
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