Kizashi Club

Well, Suzuki auto has left N. America, but how's it doing elsewhere? Fantastically, according to profit reports. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100725808

And with the U.S. dollar recently surging against the yen, Japanese manufacturers building in Japan will see a more profitable market. Too bad Suzuki won't be here to take advantage.

Like I always said: "Suzuki is the dumbest car company I've ever seen."
( and I'm no spring chicken) so I hope I'm NOT STUPID FOR BUYING ONE!!!

The thing about Suzuki is that they are a small car specialist and North Americans don't like small cars. By small cars, I mean cars that we would consider "ultra subcompact". They are one of the main two kei-car producers in Japan. These cars have a classification limit max engine size of 660cc. That's right, smaller than a typical Harley Davidson engine...but in a car.
See my photo thread on these cars from my recent visit to Japan to get a sense of them.

Recently, the Japanese gov't terminated their tax break on hybrids. The tax break helped sky-rocket hybrid sales in Japan, but now that is over, the most popular car to own in Japan is a kei-car again. I have read that since the hybrid tax break ended, sales of kei's have surged remarkably. Given Japan's high fuel prices and narrow roads, Kei's make a lot of sense. The new Suzuki Wagon R (their most popular Kei) is advertised in Japan as getting 67 mpg.

Suzuki is also a HUGE name in India, a country with 1 billion people. They sell (along with their partnership with Maruti) over 40% of all cars sold in India. Basically, Suzukis are ALL OVER India.

The problem with Suzuki is that they got lazy with North America. They did pretty much the opposite of what their main rival Honda does. Honda focuses a lot on North American sales and has built plants here and will design models with NA in mind. They also spend a lot of money on marketing in NA.

Suzuki was always going about NA in a lazy way, trying to link with other companies to sell their cars and distribute them. Also relying on these other companies for a broader range of powerplants was also pretty pathetic. It's precisely the reason why the Kizashi only has one engine offering. Many rivals have even 3 powerplants for their midsize. They should have realized that if they wanted to be competitive in NA, they have to actually offer an additional engine for the market as well. Personally, I think a turbo version of their 2.0 found in the SX4 would have been a decent choice. Many companies are moving away from V6 offerings for more efficient turbo 4s anyways.

Had they invested money in ASMC for marketing and imported the Swift and Swift Sport, then things may have been different as well. Instead, they were merely trying to pass on products they created for a global market onto NA consumers with as little marketing and dealer network as possible. They also did not import the Swift which is their halo car in Europe and Japan (as a non-kei).

The Kizashi was the hope that they were going to change that. They designed a very good midsize car, but what they failed to do was have a good marketing and distribution strategy behind it. Consequently, the car was not even noticed by the majority of consumers and faded into oblivion.
The Kizashi was the tester for Suzuki in NA. If if failed, they were pulling out. It did so they left. They are now focusing on where they make money: Asia.
Sadly, the Kizashi does not sell well there so the future of the car is rather bleak. The new SX4 may be more like the Kizashi and the Kizashi as we know it may be phased out.

That being said, Suzuki's profit figures show they they know exactly what they are doing in other markets. Too bad they did not realize the potential of NA. They definitely took interest (as they designed the Kizashi, a car most suited for NA than any other global market), but they did not go the length they needed to go in other aspects.

I hope for Suzuki to return one day, but that won't happen unless Americans have a serious demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Like I wrote, Suzuki makes non-hybrids which get better fuel economy than US hybrids. They achieve that with a tiny engine, light weight construction, and a few technologies like engine-cut off at stops along with an A/C that does not need engine power to run.
The major setback is that kei's don't meet US crash safety specs. If there was a strong demand however, have no doubt Suzuki will make them to meet US spec. If the Smart can do it, Suzuki sure can.
We can then expect to see Suzuki and Daihatsu return to the US.

Realistically speaking though, hybrids and electric cars are more likely to be popular. North Americans don't tend to like the idea of downsizing.

Its marketing in the USA missed horribly.

thats year end.. sales in india have been down for the last 5 months according to this:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 387350.cms