Suzuki Slashes Marketing, Dealerships After US Sales Slump

By Cornelius Nunev





Suzuki Motor Corporation is reducing its promoting budget in light of diminished sales and a shrinking spate of Suzuki dealerships. Automotive News reports that regardless of a 13 percent increase 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



It seems like Suzuki has disappeared. Marketing executive Steve Younan left in January from Suzuki, and a replacement may never come along. The company has not aired a national commercial since 2009 and has decided to pull out of all social networking activity during the last couple of months. The automaker has even skipped both the Detroit and Los Angeles auto shows this year. The business is certainly marketing very differently than its competition.



Suzuki stopped getting customer satisfaction reports from J.D. Power and Associates in January too, another sign of trouble. Suzuki has explained that it will try to find the data from someone else though, according to Automotive News, although it has not found the replacement yet. The J.D. Power info is used to track dealer performance, and it is something vital for automakers.



Fewer people go to Suzuki



In 2011, American Suzuki dropped 32 dealership franchises from its roster, approximately 12 percent of its United States total. The number of Suzuki dealers has continued to drop each year since 2005, note several sources.



Suzuki continues to get rid of programs, and Suzuki dealerships end up losing a lot along the way.



May be good



Kay, who currently owns Ford, Chevrolet, Buick-GMC, Honda and Nissan Motors car dealerships west of Chicago, blamed Suzuki's sales troubles on poor consumer awareness.



There is really a silver lining in reducing the number of United States dealerships though, according to the Suzuki Dealership Advisory Board chairman James Morrell.









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