Doug writes:
Ah, the 3000GT: possibly the car that’s most commonly believed not to be front-wheel drive, even though it is. That’s an accolade it shares with the 1997-2003 Audi A8, by the way. And while both cars offered all-wheel drive versions, you’d never know the 3000GT did by looking at Atlanta Craigslist.
Times are tough if you’re into Japanese cars. The sportiest Honda is a hybrid with 15-inch wheels. The coolest Toyota is a Subaru with 150 pound-feet of torque, while the fastest Toyota is a horse race between a three-row SUV and the Camry. And, despite the efforts of the American car-buying public, Mitsubishi still exists.
Sure, there are some bright spots. The Impreza WRX, for example, is still cool, despite Subaru’s attempts to make it look like a hood-scooped version of every other compact car. And the Nissan GT-R is awesome, even though experts like automotive journalists and Porsche employees will tell you it lacks “soul.” But there was a time not so long ago when there were more than just a handful of cool Japanese cars.
The 30 year run of Suzuki auto sales in the United States is one step closer to coming to an end, as a California bankruptcy court approved Suzuki’s restructuring plans.
Suzuki’s death rattle continues unabated as the company’s American distribution arm will receive $100 million in financing, half of which is earmarked to purchase inventory from parent company Suzuki Motor Corp.
Only 6 dealers haven’t taken a buyout offer from Suzuki – of the 219 Suzuki dealers in America, 213 took the offer from American Suzuki, including the top 50 dealers by volume.
Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko re-affirmed his company’s commitment to the American marketplace, despite seeing most of its product line eliminated, and the flagship i electric car fail miserably. Despite these Job-like setbacks, Mitsubishi will release more new product in 2013, including a plug-in hybrid SUV and an all-new A/B segment car.
When the news came out last night of American Suzuki Motor Corporation (ASMC) filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, I was glad to be validated in my suspicions, but sad that a potentially great opportunity had been wasted due to mismanagement and short-sightedness on behalf of its Japanese management.
In other regions, Suzuki does an excellent job catering to the needs of each domestic market. In India, through their long time partnership with Maruti (which has since turned into full ownership of the once state-owned automaker), Suzuki enjoys double digit market share that is the envy of every other automaker in the country. Maruti Suzuki has control over product, they understand the needs of Indians looking for new cars, and they have enough financial input into SMC’s bottom line that the executives in Japan have no choice but to listen.
Late last night, we were contacted by an employee of American Suzuki Motors Corp, who reached out to TTAC to vent his frustrations regarding the downfall of ASMC’s auto business. The picture painted by this employee is one of a highly dysfunctional operation, focused only on tomorrow and never beyond that, a revolving door of Japanese management and deep antipathy for American workers.
Though we’ve confirmed the identity of this Suzuki employee, they wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of their remarks.
(NSFW language)
Months ago, we began our Suzuki Death Watch, and today, we hear the executioner’s song. Suzuki’s North American distribution arm filed for bankruptcy, and will end automotive sales in the United States. Slow sales, an unfavorable exchange rate and a limited lineup of vehicles can all be blamed for the demise of a company that was ignored all too often. Luckily, Suzuki’s motorcycle and powersports business remain intact. We’ll have more tomorrow.
More bad news for Suzuki fans; the marque won’t have any new product for the Untied States until at least 2015.
BMW and Audi have embraced the “one sausage, many lengths” philosophy for their mainline sedans, and Lexus is the next lemming to jump off the cliff.
A report in the Nikkei claims that Mazda’s rotary engine will live on as a range extender for electric vehicles using hydrogen power for the Wankel engine.
Pursuant to our recent discussions of Honda’s spiral into the mundane – and the market’s warm reception despite this move, here’s another example of one of the big H’s vehicles picking up steam as it becomes more mainstream.
An editorial in Car and Driver given the subtitle “Deep Thoughts” tackles a favorite subject of the peanut gallery; the Decline and Fall of Honda’s Empire. Unfortunately, rather than being a critical analysis of the real problems that Honda is prone to (which author Dave Mable mentions, albeit in passing), it’s simply yet another softball lobbed at the sophists who have opinions on everything and know very little. Like C/D commenter “GolfTDI”, profiled in the above photo.
I agree with Dyson. Brand is an utterly obnoxious word. Brand really just means “reputation”. As we’ve seen before, “building your brand” without any substance behind it will be immediately exposed as fraudulent. But brands still matter.
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