Topic: Sayonara Suzuki Automobiles

[johngenx]

Suzuki car products in North America have NO mojo.  How can a company that builds such balls-out motorcycles drop such hum-drum stuff on their car dealers?  Sure, the GV has a cult following, but how did Toyota/Subaru beat Suzuki to market with a cool RWD sport machine?  Rebadged stuff, no direction, no common theme, and no performance models.

[X-Traction]

Suzuki car products in North America have NO mojo.  How can a company that builds such balls-out motorcycles drop such hum-drum stuff on their car dealers?  Sure, the GV has a cult following, but how did Toyota/Subaru beat Suzuki to market with a cool RWD sport machine?  Rebadged stuff, no direction, no common theme, and no performance models.

Not to mention, how did Kia and Hyundai so shockingly overcome Suzuki in the North American marketplace with products that were no better when they arrived.

[sailor723]

Our local duel Subaru-Suzuki dealer is in the precess of moving to the former VW site (much larger/nicer than his present location). Big signs say "future home of Aberdeen Subaru"...no mention of Suzuki....Hmmmmm 

[OliverD]

Not to mention, how did Kia and Hyundai so shockingly overcome Suzuki in the North American marketplace with products that were no better when they arrived.

For decades Suzuki dealers subsisted on tiny cars and SUVs while the Koreans aggressively expanded their product lines and opened dealerships everywhere. Suzuki likely never had the ability to heavily invest in its North American operations which led to unsellable products like rebadged Daewoos and Nissan Frontiers.

[Rupert]

I'm sorry but I don't think that this companies product was humdrum. I thought their cars were/are pretty decent and the Aerio was on my list but dealership coverage was the problem for me. My local Subaru dealer carried Suzuki also and maybe if that was universal I might have been interested.

[takwu]

What cars directly compete with the GV and AWD SX4?

Sure there are tons of small SUVs in the market, and most are more suitable for urban use, but none has that truck-like attribute of a GV, for better or worse.  Even the Jeep Compass/Patriot are more car-like than the Suzuki.

The only competition for the AWD SX4 is the Subaru Impreza.  There should be enough room in the market for both?  Especially in Canada.

For that matter, even the FWD SX4 sedan and hatchback are quite unique offerings in the sea of compacts.  Sure they are getting old now, but if they made a new one, I would like to think it would be worthwhile.

It would indeed be sad to see Suzuki leave Canada, if it happens.  The fact that Suzuki exited USA before Canada says that business is better here.  But is it good enough to stay in business here?   That remains to be seen.

[X-Traction]

What cars directly compete with the GV and AWD SX4?

Sure there are tons of small SUVs in the market, and most are more suitable for urban use, but none has that truck-like attribute of a GV, for better or worse.  Even the Jeep Compass/Patriot are more car-like than the Suzuki.

The only competition for the AWD SX4 is the Subaru Impreza.  There should be enough room in the market for both?  Especially in Canada.

For that matter, even the FWD SX4 sedan and hatchback are quite unique offerings in the sea of compacts.  Sure they are getting old now, but if they made a new one, I would like to think it would be worthwhile.

It would indeed be sad to see Suzuki leave Canada, if it happens.  The fact that Suzuki exited USA before Canada says that business is better here.  But is it good enough to stay in business here?   That remains to be seen.

I think I read somewhere that Suzuki sold cars in Canada before entering the US market.

While the SX4 and GV have no direct competition, they have the dual problems of being slated by Consumer Reports and not being a "safe" choice.  People will buy what's in their neighbour's driveway rather than risk buying something different which could turn out to be inferior and so make them look stupid.  I've always felt incompetent marketing was how Kia and Hyundai, not to mention Honda and Toyota before them, managed their way around this and Suzuki couldn't.

Suzuki should have seized on the SX4's awd and the GV's low range with a balanced chassis, given them some fancy name like "quattro", and pushed the safety angle.  There was no way they could succeed on the competition's turf.

[X-Traction]

To back up my point about Suzuki's ineffective marketing, compare this amateur video to any commercials Suzuki produced for the Grand Vitara:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuVcihROOE&feature=fvwrel

[sparky]

To back up my point about Suzuki's ineffective marketing, compare this amateur video to any commercials Suzuki produced for the Grand Vitara:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuVcihROOE&feature=fvwrel

There's a ton of this kind of stuff online: some Euro guys drifting a GV like a rally car on a loose gravel mountain road, acing pylon tests, thrashing a Subie in an ice slalom etc. etc. Suzuki could make a whole series of great commercials without even shooting footage of its own. They've managed to  build the best-balanced, best-handling small SUV on the market and kept it a secret from everyone.

[Vanstar]

they should bring over their excellent JDM Kei cars as urban city cars to fight the new crop of micro cars... may be difficult/expensive to switch to left hand drive and certify crash test

Building a kei to our crash standards would rather defeat the purpose of such a vehicle and I am not convinced there is much of a market here for 660 cc mini cars.

[Northernridge]

they should bring over their excellent JDM Kei cars as urban city cars to fight the new crop of micro cars... may be difficult/expensive to switch to left hand drive and certify crash test

Building a kei to our crash standards would rather defeat the purpose of such a vehicle and I am not convinced there is much of a market here for 660 cc mini cars.

An EcoBoost 660 can't be far away.