Suzuki is a huge global corporation that sells cars all around the world. They sell more cars per year than BMW, Subaru, and Dodge combined according to them. They are in fact Japan's #4 brand, ahead of Mazda, Isuzu, Subaru, and Mitsubishi. This means they have their dealer network everywhere. It's not just the US and Canada that matter for LH models. However, their main products are small, cheap cars and SUVs, not refined midsize sedans like the Kizashi.
Given they still make the Kizashi, I would reason they still do produce both versions. It would make more sense to kill off the car completely than limit sales to just 1/3 of the world when it doesn't even sell well anywhere.
Suzuki has stated they aren't releasing any new models until 2015. Given there is no inkling of a new Kizashi, I'm a bit worried they will be phased out completely. I think we will have a better sense later this year. I honestly don't see it surviving as it is without quite a transformation.
Still have the Kizashi on my list..
If you live in the USA it's your local market that matters- not how many cars Suzuki sell worldwide or how many dealers are in Kazakhstan. It's been widely posted on here how many dealers are closing and how hard some parts are to get already - eg. 3mth wait for shocks. Kevvvinc's treatment regarding his CVT was shocking.KuroNekko wrote:This means they have their dealer network everywhere.
By all accounts (posted on here) here Suzuki have dropped the ball in the USA, do you honestly expect things to improve long term?
I was caught in a similar situation when Toyota decided to close down one of their smaller arms locally - Daihatsu. Exactly like Suzuki has done in the USA, they put up a website detailing how parts and servicing would be done through Toyota dealers. http://www.daihatsu.com.au
Over time, the truth was revealed with only certain dealers being deemed as Daihatsu outlets. I tried calling a few of those listed dealers- some did not even know they were supposedly Daihatsu parts outlets! Getting OEM parts was very painful and frustrating- some dealers refused point blank to help.
I was glad when I sold that car.
David
Murcod,murcod wrote:If you live in the USA it's your local market that matters- not how many cars Suzuki sell worldwide or how many dealers are in Kazakhstan. It's been widely posted on here how many dealers are closing and how hard some parts are to get already - eg. 3mth wait for shocks. Kevvvinc's treatment regarding his CVT was shocking.KuroNekko wrote:This means they have their dealer network everywhere.
By all accounts (posted on here) here Suzuki have dropped the ball in the USA, do you honestly expect things to improve long term?
I was caught in a similar situation when Toyota decided to close down one of their smaller arms locally - Daihatsu. Exactly like Suzuki has done in the USA, they put up a website detailing how parts and servicing would be done through Toyota dealers. http://www.daihatsu.com.au
Over time, the truth was revealed with only certain dealers being deemed as Daihatsu outlets. I tried calling a few of those listed dealers- some did not even know they were supposedly Daihatsu parts outlets! Getting OEM parts was very painful and frustrating- some dealers refused point blank to help.
I was glad when I sold that car.
Keep in mind Suzuki left the US and Canada. It's not that their dealers are dwindling. They are dead. These dealers we Americans and Canadians are dealing with are not Suzuki dealers any more (at least in the US). They are more former Suzuki dealers that are now dealers of other makes. They simply have contracts with Suzuki to be authorized service locations.
The reason why I brought up how global Suzuki's sales are was because you questioned whether they still made LHD Kizashis. My point was that Suzuki is a huge global corporation and in the world, two-thirds of it drives on the right, making LHD way more popular than RHDs. Suzuki produced 2.85 million cars last year. While the US and Canada are major LHD markets, don't forget other massive LHD markets like Russia, China, South America, and most of Europe. These are massive markets for any kind of global car like the Kizashi.
So, my point remains that if Suzuki was to kill off LHD Kizashis, it would be more economical to kill off the car completely given they are not selling particularly well anywhere. Why would they limit themselves to just 1/3 of the world with just RHDs?
Also, about Daihatsu: they are both very similar to Suzuki and also very different. They are similar in that both Suzuki and Daihatsu are very specialized in small, cheap cars. Daihatsu pretty much only makes kei-cars in Japan. They are over 50% owned by Toyota and this why Toyota does not have their own branded keis in Japan.
Suzuki is their main rival in keis. These two companies make up over 60% of all kei-car sales in Japan. The rest are small in market presence, even Honda included.
One of the reasons Suzuki cited as leaving the US and Canada was to focus more on small cars in markets they do well: Asia.
I take this as a bad sign for the Kizashi, regardless of where it is still sold.
Where Suzuki and Daihatsu differ greatly is corporate ownership. Suzuki is independent. They are Japan's 4th largest automaker. Daihatsu is majority owned by Toyota and is regarded as a sub-brand. Whether Daihatsu left or entered a market would be Toyota's call.
Here's a map showing the world LHD (drives on right) vs. RHD (drives on left):
2025 Mazda CX-50 Preferred Hybrid
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
Did they offer any sort of discount? What they were offering on their website seemed pretty pathetic considering their "no returns" policy on Suzuki stuff.SamirD wrote:I spoke to them through their southwestautogroup.com site and bought my all-weather floor mats from them as well as a few other parts. They just don't try to sell Suzuki like they used to. They have a few things leftover in inventory and drop-ship the rest from the main US distributor like a lot of other places do.KuroNekko wrote:About that http://www.oemsuzukiparts.com/ site. It's actually a former Suzuki dealer in Texas that sells Suzuki parts online. They are still active in selling other brands.
It's the parts department for these guys: http://www.southwestautogroup.com/
Not sure if the site closure is temporary or if they halted all Suzuki parts sales permanently. However, I do recall that they did have a no refunds, no returns policy because of the Suzuki pull-out.
Many of the parts are the same for LHD/RHD. What's more specific is the market that the car is in. I know European headlights have different standards for the beam (hence a different housing), and of course the interior and steering components will definitely be different due to the LHD/RHD differences.murcod wrote:Are LHD Kizashi's still made/ sold new somewhere in the world? Those specific LHD parts might be hard/ expensive to source in the future?
That would include common crash repair parts like the head lights, steering components.
But I know Keystone aka LKQ already has parts for the car from existing wrecked cars as well as some aftermarket production. I don't think it's going to be impossible to find parts in the next 5 years, especially with a Suzuki still probably having at least a small stockpile in Japan.
That doesn't sound like a fun situation.murcod wrote:I was caught in a similar situation when Toyota decided to close down one of their smaller arms locally - Daihatsu. Exactly like Suzuki has done in the USA, they put up a website detailing how parts and servicing would be done through Toyota dealers. http://www.daihatsu.com.au
Over time, the truth was revealed with only certain dealers being deemed as Daihatsu outlets. I tried calling a few of those listed dealers- some did not even know they were supposedly Daihatsu parts outlets! Getting OEM parts was very painful and frustrating- some dealers refused point blank to help.
I was glad when I sold that car.
But let's face it--if buying your standard Japanese car (Honda Accord, Toyota Camry) is what you're looking for--the Kizashi is not for you. While the Kizashi is a great value in terms of what you're getting for the dollar, it does come with a host of tradeoffs--the primary that you have a limited service network if you need extensive repairs. Luckily, the car has a solid build quality that I have yet to really see from Honda or Toyota in this decade.
Buying a car that doesn't need service > Buying a car with a great service network IMO.
Not really. They were no better than any other dealership, including my local one. The only thing they were really good for was that they had not sent back all their inventory to Suzuki, so they still had some things (like the all-weather mats) that were discontinued in the US.WIKizashi wrote:Did they offer any sort of discount? What they were offering on their website seemed pretty pathetic considering their "no returns" policy on Suzuki stuff.
These guys are the ones that I've bought my accessories from (roof rack, bike module, hood deflector, and window visors), but they are quite sloppy. They sent me the bike module with missing parts and the window visors they sent were broken because the thin box had absolutely no padding. Thankfully, their management replaced them, but they got some real idiots working there.SamirD wrote:Not really. They were no better than any other dealership, including my local one. The only thing they were really good for was that they had not sent back all their inventory to Suzuki, so they still had some things (like the all-weather mats) that were discontinued in the US.WIKizashi wrote:Did they offer any sort of discount? What they were offering on their website seemed pretty pathetic considering their "no returns" policy on Suzuki stuff.
I'm not sure if their site is back up for Suzuki parts, but I think I may want to look elsewhere.
2025 Mazda CX-50 Preferred Hybrid
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
I didn't have any issues with parts broken, but their parts guys really sounded like they'd rather be dead than at work.KuroNekko wrote:...but they got some real idiots working there.
OK, thanks. Might just have to bite the bullet if I eventually want to add a few things.SamirD wrote:Not really. They were no better than any other dealership, including my local one. The only thing they were really good for was that they had not sent back all their inventory to Suzuki, so they still had some things (like the all-weather mats) that were discontinued in the US.WIKizashi wrote:Did they offer any sort of discount? What they were offering on their website seemed pretty pathetic considering their "no returns" policy on Suzuki stuff.