[joy_swift]

I simply fail to understand how Suzuki launched Kizashi in India at 17L with a petrol only model .
The move predictably was suicidal.

What were the decision makers at Suzuki thinking?

Suzuki's marketing strategy with cars priced less than 10L has been extra-ordinary especially if you consider Swift,Dzire,Ertiga etc.

Their strategy suddenly goes haywire when they try to market more expensive models like Kizashi and Grand Vitara.If you are trying to sell 10L+ cars with only a petrol option,you are anyways doomed however good the car is.To add to that,they were priced exorbitantly as well.

[MHG]

What Suzuki should do is:

1. Formally join the Fiat-Chrysler alliance
2. Sell Suzuki small cars badged as Fiat in the US and Europe (like the Sedici)
3. Sell premium fully loaded euro spec diesel powered (1.6MJD and 2.0MJD) Fiat cars badged Maruti Suzuki in India to help Fiat with sales.
4. Start assembling Kizashi in India, keeping equipment levels the same but use a high capacity Fiat MJD diesel engine instead of the current petrol and watch it fly off the shelves.

Yup that would help both Suzuki and Fiat.

[GTO]

Of course, another reason is that Suzuki's core competence is in cheap, small cars. They simply haven't built a good big car, whereas the USA is primarily a big car market (Americans used to consider the Accord as a compact ). The Kizashi might be a worthy Civic / Corolla competitor, but it came too late to make a difference. Suzuki's image was already finished.

[KPS]

It is high time Suzuki draws from this experience and looks to up the game in India. They have taken our market for granted for too long. India has been a cow they milked for very long. Huge royalty earnings due to limited technology transfer ensured a huge cash haul for Suzuki.

They keep selling out dated models like M800 which does not meet the emission standards in the major cities. Don't they have corporate responsibility to stop selling cars which do not meet environmental standards which India must progress towards, for the benefit of the future generation of Indians.

India should get all the models from the Suzuki stable including the latest engines. They have a wide enough range which can meet most of the customer needs in India. Suzuki must bring in all their best technology to India they want to retain their dominant position in India for another 25 years

Cheers

KPS

[anu21v]

Originally Posted by Shiv_1984

Hello,

This is indeed a suprise for most of us indians. When i was in US couple of months back, i read this here.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industrie...ppear-in-2013/

Predicted way back . I hope they concentrate on their Indian business well to augment there sales and give some more VFM products. I still somehow feel MUL scores low when it comes to the pricing Vis-a-vis features. Barring top ends(ZXI/DI), all there variants are terriblly under featured.Not even a music system even in mid variant is too much i feel.
Look at Hyundai, the way they changed their fortunes in both Asian and N.A markets. Kudos to whatever strategy they adopted.

Nevertheless, i hope they would continue to perform strongly in Asian Markets considering their rapport.

Aloha
Shiv

That was a scary brand related prediction!!! I remember Daewoo's rapid fall after considerably good success. Suzuki's too many eggs are in one basket, India. they better figure out some good strategy to join some global Auto Network or else they can be extinct under the pressure. In India they have been withstanding pressure well so far, but you never know when they reach that rupture point, beyond which which even a small push will hurt them big time.

According to this article loss of partnership with GM was one of the reasons which lead to this.

After its best-ever year in the U.S. in 2007, when it sold 102,000 vehicles, Suzuki dissolved its Canadian venture with GM in 2009, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that roiled markets worldwide. Suzuki has been importing its cars from Japan since then.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...e-decades.html

[hothatchaway]

We are unfair to Suzuki when we keep beating them down for quality/me too designs etc. For a nation which started witnessing a consumer revolution not so far back in time and continues to have lax regulations with regard to product quality, it is but natural that manufacturers will look to cut corners and pay lip service to toothless laws, why even a VW is no exception when it comes to playing this game when it comes to India.

We need to hold the lawmakers accountable for ensuring things like basic safety features are not trifled with. In the meanwhile let MSIL continue to turn numerous first car dreams into reality.

[SankalpDesai]

Originally Posted by MHG

What Suzuki should do is:

1. Formally join the Fiat-Chrysler alliance
2. Sell Suzuki small cars badged as Fiat in the US and Europe (like the Sedici)
3. Sell premium fully loaded euro spec diesel powered (1.6MJD and 2.0MJD) Fiat cars badged Maruti Suzuki in India to help Fiat with sales.
4. Start assembling Kizashi in India, keeping equipment levels the same but use a high capacity Fiat MJD diesel engine instead of the current petrol and watch it fly off the shelves.

Yup that would help both Suzuki and Fiat.

Makes sense. Suzuki has the art of selling cars (or it might simply be a miracle given their designs) while Fiat has the technology. Given that the Indian love affair with diesel engines is not going to die down anytime soon, both partners can benefit from each other's strengths. Fiat has a decent lineup of cars in the international markets, that may be useful here in India, but they can't even dream of launching any of them at this stage.

Suzuki on the other hand can benefit on the Indian as well as international front. Some SUVs and sedans can be sourced from Fiat's inventory while that brand name can be extended in markets where Suzuki is a taboo.

[durgaprasan]

Hi,
I am not surprised by this news, considering Suzuki is not a big brand outside Asia, compared to the big Japs Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Even here in India, suzuki has been slowly put under pressure by Hyundai, and now Ford. Looking at the current focus of major auto players like Ford, VW, Chevy and Asian players like Japs and Koreans, the policy is to introduce small cars in India that directly compete with MSILs successful small cars. The market share of MSIL has consistently fallen in India as a result, and as Indian auto buyer matures in taste, Suzuki may face the same problem here as well. After driving an alto for 6 years, i realize its a myth that maruti is cheap to maintain. The parts may be cheap and easily accessible, but they keep falling off often and need some repir or the other. It remind me of our old Premier Padmini, and if Suzuki thinks it can get away with cheap quality small cars in future, it only needs to look at Premier as example of mass car maker gone bust in India. If you really compare Maruti's feature for feature, their cars are more expensive at times than Hondas, Nissans, even Skoda!! When i bought my Fabia, it was actually cheaper feature for feature than a Swift!!!

So wake up Maruti. Its a global village, and history can repeat itself in remote places as well!!!

[9thsphinx]

I just mentioned about the brand value that the Suzuki brand brings to the table (on the Kizashi thread) especially in a market like the US where there are many established players already selling in numbers. From a personal experience, this news doesn't come as a shock, rather surprise that it's coming so late. From all my friends and relatives and their friends and their relatives based out of the US since more than at least two decades now, not one - not even one single person or family owns a Suzuki! The Japanese trio - Honda, Toyota and Nissan have been too dominant in the US market to have let the Suzuki brand thrive any longer than they already have till date!

[RGK]

USA is known for bigger cars where Suzuki lacks completely in that segment.

At the time of climate change, global warming etc.. Suzuki should have made a strategy to show their strength in highly fuel efficient petrol engines, small cars, hybrid etc..., but unfortunately they failed and have to exit.

Apart from Honda, Toyota and Nissan there are not too many Japanese manufacturers who have shown strong sales volume in US.

[ashphil]

Originally Posted by MHG

What Suzuki should do is:

1. Formally join the Fiat-Chrysler alliance
2. Sell Suzuki small cars badged as Fiat in the US and Europe (like the Sedici)
3. Sell premium fully loaded euro spec diesel powered (1.6MJD and 2.0MJD) Fiat cars badged Maruti Suzuki in India to help Fiat with sales.
4. Start assembling Kizashi in India, keeping equipment levels the same but use a high capacity Fiat MJD diesel engine instead of the current petrol and watch it fly off the shelves.

Yup that would help both Suzuki and Fiat.

Makes marketing sense. I am pretty certain that this will happen because they have the Indian market where they have a very strong infrastucture which the other two can use .
Regards
Ashok

[carboy]

Originally Posted by MHG

2. Sell Suzuki small cars badged as Fiat in the US and Europe (like the Sedici).

I think that even when they closed down in the US, Suzuki would have been selling as much cars in the US as Fiat sells in the US. What advantage would Suzuki get out badging their cars as Fiat? Suzuki is better known in the US than Fiat, I would think.

[i_nv]

I beg to differ here. Suzuki's success in India is largely based on giving the products that are frugal, cost competitive, practical and with the lowest cost of maintenance in India. They might have got a head start with monopoly but 10 -15 years is a long time for any global player to come and challenge that position.
Even today with the number of cars they are selling their After Sales Service is most affordable thus keeping cost of ownership within the budget of middle class.

If the big cars, gadget and features were the formula of success then VW,GM, Ford would have tasted it long time back. Even after 10-15 years of coming to India they are struggling to stay afloat.

Suzuki has understood the Indian consumer psyche/expectation very well and developed many successful products around it.

Yes with the rise of income levels the expectation and aspiration of Indian consumer is higher hence giving opportunities to Germans and other European brands in India.

But the fact is for a long time to come they wont be able to challenge Suzuki's dominant position in India especially in the segment Suzuki caters to.

Its too early to write obituary of Suzuki in India.

Originally Posted by vinair

It was only expected. With no exciting models in the line up, Suzuki was well walking into the grave on its own.

Even in India, if Suzuki continues to offer the same mickey mouse designs (no offence to the cartoon characters!!), well it can soon start counting the days here as well. However, as our land is still obsessed with anything that's 'Maruti on wheels', Suzuki can stay afloat and breath free!!

[dkaile]

^
I am sure Suzuki's market share would have been more conservative had it entered the Indian market today in current scenario and not been protected by the vested political interests like it was in the 80's. It gave India what it needed at that point of time and made a huge headway in market penetration and dealer network which is the main reason it sells today rather than giving us world class products. Its products are cheap and built to a price but nobody would dare describe them as cutting edge.

Still what sells is what counts and they have that head-start given to them in the 80's to thank for it.

[Imran.Syed]

no surprise.
suzuki specializes in small cars, or cars fit for asian market, and so, they do well here. the western automotive scene is way ahead than india, and then there are other fierce competitors like GM and Ford. top it off with american patriotism in the people, and number of sales go further down.
look at it this way; you can buy a brand new mustang V6 for around 25k usd. it has the power, the status, and the patriotism. why would a normal american even think about buying a suzuki there? hyundai got even worse treatment until they revamped themselves.
And then just go and check the used car prices on ebay. 300-400bhp cars for around 15-25k. old but in mint conditions. and so my dad has even decided to import a car to saudi arabia from the US or UK for me after my under-graduation. 2015 mustang will be out by then and the 2013 models will be on ebay+ 2% import duty.

surely, next up to pull the plug will be mitsubishi motors, unless a much needed miracle happens. but, mitsubishi is a very huge brand, so it wouldn't prolly hurt or matter them like suzuki.

in a way, it is good for us. now suzuki will shift its focus to markets in which it is already well established. Hello India! I honestly dont expect new models, but revamps and face-lifts, or maybe new variants. I dont know why, but I just cant see Suzuki as a luxury brand.

I really wish that our government brings down all those heavy taxes, so that the indian automotive scene can grow a bit too.