Suzuki Death Watch 6: The Product Drought Continues Ubabated
More bad news for Suzuki fans; the marque won’t have any new product for the Untied States until at least 2015.
An Automotive News report on Mitsubishi and Suzuki’s future product plans paints a bleak picture for the two brands. While Mitsubishi at least has a new Outlander (as well as a plug-in version of that car), AN’s Ryan Beene reports that
Beene cites a strong yen and the bungled Volkswagen partnership for Suzuki’s product drought. Suzuki apparently investigated the prospect of selling the Wagon R minicar in the U.S, but that project has been dormant for some time. The SX4, Kizashi and Grand Vitara will soldier on with minor changes at best. The highly praised Swift compact car will ostensibly not be sold here any time soon, for reasons that nobody can fathom.
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I don't understand the Swift situation at all. If they're not going to bring their best product then what's the point of having a presence in North America at all. It's not like the Swift is a kei car or city car that can only be sold in certain markets. There is a market for B-class cars in North America. It's not a really big market, but even a small piece of that pie would make the Swift their best seller.
I can understand Suzuki just not having new product, since so few of their bread-and-butter Japanese cars make sense here. (I can guarantee they'd sell a Wagon R to my girlfriend, but I guess they can't make their decisions based on what people who've just finished working in Japan for three years are doing...) Weird they keep avoiding the Swift, though, and I think the Splash could probably find a niche, too. But I absolutely don't get how long Mitsubishi's letting the Lancer get stale. That car wasn't competitive—attractive, then and now, but not competitive—in 2007, let alone 2015. It seems like they'll have to bring the Mirage over, lest they turn into Isuzu and fade away selling a couple of reasonably popular crossovers and nothing else.
there's a minor problem with that Swift it's not a lot better than the old Swift and in some cases its worse be that as it may, its still a product out there that can generate sales... it's capable of a US audience it is certainly no worse than their competitors i would ask if these sub C-segment cars suit Americans?
Suzuki- I see your hand of 2012 Equator pickup trucks and raise you two (now discontinued) Mitsubishi Raiders (nee Dodge Dakota)and one Endeavor (nee Jeep Grand Cherokee).