US Market Has Not Been Friendly To Suzuki

Suzuki Motor Corporation is reducing its promoting spending budget in light of decreased sales and a shrinking spate of Suzuki dealers. Automotive News reports that despite a 13 percent boost in sales across the global automotive industry through the first quarter of 2012, Suzuki dropped 2 percent to just 6,561 sales.

Marketing not on the top of the list

Compared to its competition, Suzuki is not promoting at all; in fact, many people feel like the automaker has dropped off the face of the earth. In 2009, the company stopped airing national television commercials, and the business does not currently even have a product planning and marketing executive. The former executive, Steve Younan, left the business 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 media in the last couple of months.

Another sign of trouble for Suzuki came in January, when the car maker stopped receiving consumer satisfaction reports from J.D. Power and Associates. Automakers use the data compiled by J.D. Power to track dealership performance. A memorandum from Suzuki indicated that the automaker will seek a different vendor to provide this data, notes Automotive News. The position has reportedly not been filled yet.

Shrinking Suzuki dealer ranks

Every year since 2005, Suzuki has dropped some car dealerships. In fact, in 2011, the company dropped 32 dealerships, which was about 12 percent of the total ones in the States.

Suzuki dealerships are suffering while Suzuki eliminates programs.

Is there a silver lining?

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

James Morrell, owner of Advantage Suzuki in Albany, N.Y., and chairman of the Suzuki Dealership Advisory Board, points out that from a large corporate standpoint, reducing the number of U.S. dealerships really had a silver lining.