Friday, January 2, 2015

Suzuki Pares Back On US Operations During Slump

By Cornelius Nunev


Suzuki's customer satisfaction data from J.D. Power and Associates is no longer forthcoming, which professionals believe is a bad sign for the automaker's future in the U.S. industry. Sales throughout the industry have been up 13 percent in the first quarter, yet Suzuki has dropped by 2 percent over that time period. This has led Suzuki to cut its promoting on social networking and television, and to close several United States dealerships.

Avoiding promoting

Compared to its competition, Suzuki is not marketing at all; in fact, many people feel like the car maker has dropped off the face of the earth. In 2009, the business stopped airing national television commercials, and the company does not currently even have a product planning and marketing executive. The previous executive, Steve Younan, left the company in January and a replacement does not seem likely any time soon. Suzuki did not show up at the Detroit or Los Angeles auto shows, and the company has stopped doing anything with social networking in the last couple of months.

Suzuki stopped getting consumer satisfaction reports from J.D. Power and Associates in January too, another sign of trouble. Suzuki has explained that it will try to find the data from someone else though, according to Automotive News, although it has not found the replacement yet. The J.D. Power info is used to track dealer performance, and it is something vital for automakers.

Dealerships losing rating

In 2011, American Suzuki dropped 32 dealership franchises from its roster, approximately 12 percent of its United States total. The number of Suzuki dealerships has continued to drop each year since 2005, note numerous sources.

While American Suzuki will continue to reduce programs, Suzuki dealers feel the financial pain.

Might be good

Near Chicago, Kay owns a lot of dealerships with a variety of different big brands. Kay believes that poor consumer awareness has caused the troubles at Suzuki.

James Morrell is a chairman on the Suzuki Dealer Advisory Board. He explained that there may really be some good in reducing the number of dealerships out there.




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