Kizashi has Suzuki on pace for record year

[volunteer]

yeah me neither no enthusiast though but somehow im thinking its going to catch on so many people stopped me today inquiring it just stands out ...so now im somewhat an unpaid advocate for suzuki lol....its all good though...something is just missing though they getting all the good press still lagging sales....

All the good press in the world can't overcome no marketing campaign and a ridiculously small U.S. dealer network (300+ dealers in the entire country). To put it in perspective, Suzuki has 22 or 23 dealers in the entire state of Texas. Toyota has 27 dealers in Dallas/Ft. Worth alone.

[stapletondoc]

Suzuki's bread and butter appears to be, in my opinion, its awd, 4wd capabilities on most of its small cars. I wonder if there is much more demand for such cars in colder climates than that found in Texas. As well, Texas is not known for its small cars. Many Texans are still in love with big cars, trucks, and SUVs. Gawd knows my own family back home can't get enough of them. As well, many Texans can be quite stubborn and less willing to try something that might be considered "different" or out of the range of "normal" or "niche-like." Luckily that stereotype may be changing especially in larger metro areas like Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston with younger generations. I think there is a Suzuki dealership in Wichita Falls, TX, of all places. That surprises me since I grew up in rural north central TX. I never gave Suzuki a thought until I moved to Colorado. I am certainly glad I did though.

[volunteer]

Suzuki's bread and butter appears to be, in my opinion, its awd, 4wd capabilities on most of its small cars. I wonder if there is much more demand for such cars in colder climates than that found in Texas. As well, Texas is not known for its small cars. Many Texans are still in love with big cars, trucks, and SUVs. Gawd knows my own family back home can't get enough of them. As well, many Texans can be quite stubborn and less willing to try something that might be considered "different" or out of the range of "normal" or "niche-like." Luckily that stereotype may be changing especially in larger metro areas like Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston with younger generations. I think there is a Suzuki dealership in Wichita Falls, TX, of all places. That surprises me since I grew up in rural north central TX. I never gave Suzuki a thought until I moved to Colorado. I am certainly glad I did though.

TX was just an example. Pick any state or major city and you will see the same problem. Suzuki only has 10 dealers in the state of Colorado, which is AWD territory. Toyota 6-8 in the Denver area alone. The basic problem is they have just 300 dealers spread across the country. Compare the number to Suzuki motorcycles....1,100+ dealers across the U.S. Truth of the matter is, most people don't want to drive 50 miles to buy a car or get a car serviced. When you have so few dealers in each state, a big chunk of the buying public leaves you off their list.

[stapletondoc]

Your comments are very spot on. Suzuki will need to expand its dealership locations if it hopes to be more than a niche player in the market.

[Hawkzilla]

ok what do you think is the real reason suzuki not selling i can say it looks competitive with most cars i see no way is this car bland...excellent value for the money....what can it be...i think people hung up on brand name in america....i mean you spend more money to get pump seats kizashi has power for less ect...

I think lack of dealerships seems to be the biggest complaint I have been seeing online. Seems a lot of people have to drive long distances to find a Suzuki dealer? That and they need an aggressive marketing campaign. With the abundance of stellar reviews this car is getting, I'm shocked not to see Suzuki pony-up more on advertising.

I'm not too worried about Suzuki pulling out of the U.S. They invested one billion dollars in the Kizashi with the sole purpose of beefing up their U.S. market, so I would think they are in it for the long haul. It took Hyundai and Kia years to take off, seems Suzuki is going to try to follow suit?

[Hawkzilla]

For what it's worth, SPEED network's "Test Drive" made a point to say that Suzuki is known as a very reliable auto builder in Japan. SPEED recognized that people over here are weary of the brand yet mostly due to ignorance of the company.

All of us on this forum and I don't think anyone has had a lemon yet have they?

[Senegal]

agree with the dealer issue.

the only reason that I felt comfortable buying this car was that I knew I would be within 60 miles of a top notch dealer for the next couple of years.

I'm not sure what can be done. While Suzuki can provide incentives and support for new dealership opportunities, essentially dealers are private entities and like any other business must finance their way through the current economic issues.

Teaming up with VW dealerships seems ideal, but the logistics of it seems difficult. Although the two companies are "partners" of sort, they are competitors as well. I mean can you ever imagine the success of Golf against Swift, and Jetta against Kizashi?

A rep in Cali said that Suzuki would be entering the "second" phase of its dealership plans soon. The first phase was closing dealers that didn't seem competent, meanwhile beefing up the support for the existing ones. The next phase is attracting investment to expand the dealership network...but as you all can imagine this process can take a long time, and if the US sales number continue to be low, it can be very difficult to attract new investment.

[Hawkzilla]

I got lucky, my dealer is only 10 mins from my house. However, if that dealership goes under I will be looking at a 90 min drive, so I'm hoping the economy bounces back soon.

I suppose most dealers don't bother with Suzuki because (until now) they didn't have a ton to offer. With the new family car with AWD, this might be the incentive Suzuki is hoping for to attract new dealers.

[lookin]

senegal i think teaming up with vw dealers would be perfect people would actually see suzuki..but it may not be doable cause i think side by side kizashi would beat the jetta in looks alone it just looks more stronger jetta has a nice interior think kizashi better and with the hype swift having already it might beat golf. so yeah vw might not risk that..lol

[Hawkzilla]

I saw a new VW Passat in my neighborhood last night and was unimpressed. The looks of the car are just plain. In fact, I think the 2001 Passat is a way better looking car. If I was parked next to a loaded Kizashi and found out I paid $4K+ more to drive a plain looking VW, I'd be ticked.

VW having a partnership with Suzuki worries me a little. I've never been impressed with what that company has done.