The Suzuki nameplate/brand

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: PostalBound


I do agree that the marketing strategy the Suzuki uses is horrible. They do OK overseas, very strong in Japan and India. Strange they can't get a foot hold over here.



Suzuki has been trying to get out from under Volkswagen control.

Volkswagen bought a controlling interest in Suzuki and then didn't do anything with it. Like Piëch said, "Hey! Zis Suzuki is making auto zat looks a little like Jetta but verks really gut. Buy zem und Kill zem."

 

[GearheadTool]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: PostalBound


I do agree that the marketing strategy the Suzuki uses is horrible. They do OK overseas, very strong in Japan and India. Strange they can't get a foot hold over here.



Suzuki has been trying to get out from under Volkswagen control.

Volkswagen bought a controlling interest in Suzuki and then didn't do anything with it. Like Piëch said, "Hey! Zis Suzuki is making auto zat looks a little like Jetta but verks really gut. Buy zem und Kill zem."


When did VW do this? I thought Suzuki was under the Chevy/GM umbrella (Geo/Suzuki Metro/swift.. Chevy)

90s GM was a MESS.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: GearheadTool
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: PostalBound


I do agree that the marketing strategy the Suzuki uses is horrible. They do OK overseas, very strong in Japan and India. Strange they can't get a foot hold over here.



Suzuki has been trying to get out from under Volkswagen control.

Volkswagen bought a controlling interest in Suzuki and then didn't do anything with it. Like Piëch said, "Hey! Zis Suzuki is making auto zat looks a little like Jetta but verks really gut. Buy zem und Kill zem."


When did VW do this? I thought Suzuki was under the Chevy/GM umbrella (Geo/Suzuki Metro/swift.. Chevy)

90s GM was a MESS.


according to wikipedia:

Volkswagen AG completed the purchase of 19.9% of Suzuki Motor Corporation's issued shares on 15 January 2010, Volkswagen AG is the biggest shareholder in Suzuki.

They also just completed their takeover of Porsche AG and Ducati.

The big 3 were a collective mess in the '90s. Ford had controlling interest in Kia and Mazda. Kia has since become very successful and have made a major move forward in styling. Mazda....well, not as much so but they do almost as well as Subaru.
CEO Bob Eaton seemed to only be interested in selling Chrysler off. When he took over, Chrysler had 2 of the most dynamic domestic cars (Intrepid, Grand Cherokee) with more in the works (Ram, Neon) But he seemed to stymie further development. It's a wonder anything got done.

 

[JTK]

You see a lot of Suzuki SX4s in my area. Small, relatively inexpensive and good on fuel, plus AWD.

Small dealer network would keep me away from buying new, although if it was a great used buy, I'd consider it.

Joel

 

[BrianWC]

I really liked the XL7 when it came out and it was on my list when we ultimately bought our CR-V in '02. However, the dealer was really cheesy and low rent and when we showed up for a test drive, we were told we could only drive the car around the dealer lot because they were out of temp tags... My wife was already sketchy on the idea of a Suzuki and that sank the deal for sure.

 

[Brons2]

There are no Suzuki dealers in the Austin MSA, which is about 1.7 million people. I would be very hesitant for that reason. You can go to Killeen or New Braunfels depending on which side of town you are on, but either way it's 40+ miles to the dealer.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: Brons2
There are no Suzuki dealers in the Austin MSA, which is about 1.7 million people. I would be very hesitant for that reason. You can go to Killeen or New Braunfels depending on which side of town you are on, but either way it's 40+ miles to the dealer.


There are 6 Suzuki Auto dealers in the Dallas/Ft Worth/Arlington MSA. We do have a combined population of about 6.6 million people though. That's not a bad number though, there are only 6 Subaru dealers. There are only 5 Mitsubishi dealers. (there are at least 36 Chevrolet dealers....I got tired of counting the densely packed little dots inside Interstates 635 and 820)

 

[oilmaven]

I'm the guy with the Suzuki Kizashi (2010 model AWD w/CVT). I've owned the car for over a year now and am happy to report I LOVE the car. Aside from an alignment problem (which apparently was off from the factory...noticed some premature tire wear and had it realigned at a dealership) the car has been flawless. The Kizashi is a phenomenal car but will never be a great seller because of Suzuki's lack of dealerships. The local dealership lost it's Suzuki franchise shortly after I bought the car...next closest dealer is over 200 miles away. Luckily, I go to the metro Detroit area pretty often and they have a large dealership there (seems like a good one too from my experience). The AWD works great and can be run in FWD by disabling the AWD via a dash button (stability control is defeatable also). The car is quiet, quick and handles very similarly to my neighbor's BMW 3 series (no joke). I recently took it on a 1,600 mile vacation trip and got just shy of 35 mpg on a couple of highway runs...overall mileage was just over 30 mpg (car routinely gets better than the estimated mileage). I'm impressed with the quality of this car...Suzuki pulled out the stops when they built this one. Pity the company may not be around long considering their poor dealership network and relatively low sales. I plan to keep the car for a long time.