Stop The Bleeding! Suzuki/Mitsubishi May Have To ABANDON U.S. Market

Stop The Bleeding! Suzuki/Mitsubishi May Have To ABANDON U.S. Market

(Originally submited by 0to60)

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Suzuki Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motor Corp., suffering from plunging U.S. sales and excess North American plant capacity, may have to quit the market after a quarter century.

Suzuki, Japan’s fourth-largest carmaker, reported a 78 percent drop in unit sales in June, pushing its first-half decline to 60 percent, the market’s worst. Mitsubishi is down 51 percent this year, and is stuck in a slump that began in 2003.

Both carmakers “should withdraw from the U.S.,” said Yuuki Sakurai, chief executive of Tokyo-based Fukoku Capital Management Inc., which oversees about $10 billion in Tokyo. “It’s time for them to decide whether they pay a high price to continue business there or stop the bleeding.”


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thstonethstone - 7/10/2009 3:39:21 PM
+5 Boost
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? If Suzuki leaves and ....


Agent00RAgent00R - 7/10/2009 3:54:14 PM
+3 Boost
Brutal.

But oh-so-true.


WhelanWhelan - 7/10/2009 4:20:02 PM
+1 Boost
Perfect statement thstone. Suzuki never had much influence on the market here. To me they never went up against their competition before it jumped segments. They should have been competing with Hyundai, but Hyundai jumped ahead and now competes with Mazda and is pretty much getting into the other territories of Toyota Honda Ford, etc. (Yes I know Ford owns Mazda but Mazda is still not as high on the scale).

And the whole campaign of Mightier than the Mini for the SX4 was a joke. The SX4 was never a cross-shop with the Mini. It went against the likes of the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe maybe. The mini in terms of size is in the category but not related in their target markets IMO.

As for Mitsubishi, good bye, never liked them.


WhelanWhelan - 7/10/2009 4:21:35 PM
+5 Boost
P.S. - Mitsubishi killed themselves when they came out with the previous gen Eclipse that lost all the spice of the GSR GSX versions. And the Galant never made the cut for competition like it used to.


skinnyskinny - 7/10/2009 4:57:38 PM
+5 Boost
True. It all started going downhill when the killed the "sporty" Eclipse AWD Turbo's, and changed to that oversized frumpy Eclipse.


009load009load - 7/10/2009 4:52:07 PM
-2 Boost
Leave already. Make room for Indian and Chinese brands.


tangotango - 7/10/2009 10:38:12 PM
+1 Boost
Mitsubishi made a tragic error when they decided to leave design to their California studio. That effectively ended all they had worked for since 1989 when they were shaping up to be as performance oriented as Mazda is today. They have since (rightly) closed the design studio in California and put those bastards that worked there in a food stamp line. I don't know why they felt that California could do a better job than Japan. In fact, we all know if you want a class-leading studio you look to Turin.


0to600to60 - 7/11/2009 9:10:51 AM
+1 Boost
All hyandai is kia do is copy and paste designs from other automakers. So the designs are not coming out of california. Its coming out of Japan and Germany.


rxh8me9000rxh8me9000 - 7/11/2009 3:03:33 AM
+4 Boost
Surprised Suzuki lasted this long.Their bikes arnt bad though. Ill take a GSX-R 1000 or a Hayabusa anyday.


0to600to60 - 7/11/2009 9:11:31 AM
+2 Boost
+1000


truckmantruckman - 7/13/2009 4:10:06 AM
0 Boost
Nothing lost, exept the mechanics jobs that have to fix the most unreliable cars in the world.That is the sad news, unemployment.


truckmantruckman - 7/19/2009 5:29:33 AM
+1 Boost
lol
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