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Suzuki Files Bankruptcy, Stops Selling Cars in U.S.

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Don't you mean the Samurai wannabe the RAV4? Suzuki invented the small SUV niche market when it introduced the Samurai in 1985. Everybody else came later. Those Samurais now have a cult following and a whole industry is dedicated to modifying them and keeping them running.

- Pete
 
I got to sit in the back seat of a soft-top Samurai once. Good thing it was a soft top, my head stuck the cloth WAY up...I decided then I really didn't want one...
 
LBPete said:
Don't you mean the Samurai wannabe the RAV4? Suzuki invented the small SUV niche market when it introduced the Samurai in 1985. Everybody else came later. Those Samurais now have a cult following and a whole industry is dedicated to modifying them and keeping them running.

- Pete
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The Vitara looks a lot more like a RAV4:

Vitara
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RAV4
Toyota-RAV4_2006_800x600_wallpaper_08.jpg



Samurai
suzuki-samurai-02.jpg
 
I remember about 8 months after they started selling the Samuri here in Oregon leaving the freeway heading into Grants Pass Oregon and seeing three Samuris parked? right next to each other at a towing company yard all three had obviously been rolled at least twice.

I drove my 1948 Willys jeep like an insane high school kid(which I was at the time) for 3 years and never managed to roll it.
 
I hope this is only the passenger car division of Suzuki, and not the motorcycle division! I can't imagine they'd be in trouble with motorcycle sales, as the GSXR is one of the best sellers of any bike of all time.

Speaking of Samurais, There's one here on our ranch, and it's still running. No VIN number, and no plates, but we use it for ranch purposes. Very reliable, and no rust even though it sits out all the time, and has been totally neglected. I was going to sell parts off it and cut it up and put it in the dumpster (worth WAY more in parts than together!! ), but my wife uses it to go get the mail in bad weather...

Charles
 
while they are mostly economy cars Suzuki makes a damn good car! Metro is great for high gas mileage, but not much else.
 
Apparently our local Suzuki dealer (very successful, by the way) learned about this in the newspaper :thumbsdn:
 
...suzuki...

Yeah it's a shame. No experience with their cars/SUVs, but i always thought they made some awesome motorcycles - especially their old GS series inline fours. Maybe more plain Jane than the others, but stout and reliable.
 
They will be concentrating on their motorcycle business, so you bikers are not out of luck.
 
sKiZo said:
Suzuki made cars?
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That's part of the reason they are pulling out of the US market. Currently their brand awareness is near zero. Look at this thread for example. The only current model mentioned was the Grand Vitara.

The current top of the line model is the Kizashi, a very capable 4 door sports sedan. Don't laugh, that's the name. If you Google it, you will see that it consistently wins awards for design. It's a very nice car but nobody buys it because they never heard of Suzuki as a car manufacturer.

- Pete
 
If I was the CEO of a big American company I'd surely Buy Em out or Merge.
Lotsa Money stiil to be made there with a few mods.
 
Cruzah said:
If I was the CEO of a big American company I'd surely Buy Em out or Merge.
Lotsa Money stiil to be made there with a few mods.
Click to expand...

General Motors owned a portion of Suzuki stock for awhile. Not sure whatever happened to that but you could tell by the Vitara being based on the Chevy Tracker, the car line being heavily based on Daewoos and the XL7 being based on the Equinox/Torrent SUV.
 
68custom said:
while they are mostly economy cars Suzuki makes a damn good car! Metro is great for high gas mileage, but not much else.
Click to expand...

I can tell by your avatar you're really into economy cars. <G>

LBPete said:
TThe current top of the line model is the Kizashi, a very capable 4 door sports sedan. Don't laugh, that's the name.
Click to expand...

... Gesundheit! ...

Hey, I didn't laugh - :D - until just then anyway. Thanx for the reminder though. I was wondering what I was gonna have for lunch today.

hero.jpg


Tasty ... and I get about six meals per gallon out of it ...
 
Gesundheit was exactly the reaction that I had when I first hear it.

GM and Suzuki had a long relationship. They entered into a partnership in the 1980s and jointly built a manufacturing plant in Canada. This was a similar deal that Toyota and GM had with their joint plant in California. The Suzuki Swift and Suzuki Sidekick were built in that plant and sold by GM as the Geo Metro and the Geo Tracker. When GM killed off the Geo brand, I believe the Metro and Tracker briefly carried a Chevrolet moniker before GM dropped the line all together.

Suzuki continued to build the Vitara and later the XL7 in that plant until GM went bankrupt in 2008. As part of the restructure GM ended the partnership with Suzuki and closed that plant.

As part of the GM deal, Suzuki in the US also sold cars built by GM Korea, also known as Daewoo. The Suzuki Forenza, Reno and Verona were built in Korea. These cars were larger than anything that Suzuki was producing in Japan and offered Suzuki a toe hold into that segment of the US market. With the demise of GM, Suzuki lost that vehicle source.

As far as being bought up by a US manufacturer, GM already passed. Any decision by Chrysler would have to be OKed by Fiat, and they have their own small cars. That leaves Ford and I don't think that's likely either.

Suzuki sells cars globally. They are a powerhouse in the Japanese domestic Kei car market and for years have had the largest selling car in Japan, the Wagon R. They also have more than 50% market share in India. So as a global company they are very strong. They just can't compete in the US market and are cutting their losses and pulling out.

Motorcycles and the Outboard business will continue. You will probably see a big push from these divisions to become bigger players in the US.

- Pete
 
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