American Suzuki Motor Corporation is officially no more, with the company’s operating assets transferred to the newly-formed Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. on March 31, 2013. The new company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation, will be the sole distributor of Suzuki motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, marine engines and automotive parts for the continental U.S. and Alaska.

U.S. bankruptcy court judge Scott C. Clarkson approved American Suzuki’s Chapter 11 plan on Feb. 28, but the plan did not actually start until the end of March. The new company assumes the former company’s warranty coverage, while keeping 832 of 930 Suzuki dealerships. Suzuki Motor of America says it is fully committed to long-term growth in the American market, promising the launch of several new products.

American Suzuki is now in the process of settling all claims with its former car dealer network and trade creditors following the decision to quit the automobile business. Continue Reading »

When American Suzuki announced it was filing for Chapter 11 and dropping out of the U.S. automobile market last November, its counterparts in Canada said it would continue to sell cars for that market. It now appears that will only last for one more year, as Suzuki Canada announced it would also stop selling cars following the 2014 model year to focus on its powersports operations.

The move wasn’t entirely a surprise. Canada is a much smaller market than the U.S. According to the Financial Post, Suzuki sold about 5,500 cars in Canada in 2012, representing a 0.3% share of the market. By comparison, American Suzuki says it sold  1,764 cars in February 2013 alone, and that’s with customers knowing the company is quitting the business. Importing cars to Canada costs a lot of money and the sales do not appear to justify the expense.

The reason for the delay was likely because Suzuki Canada already had an order for a supply of 2014 models from the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. Suzuki Canada says that it and the parent company came to this decision after  “monitoring market conditions carefully and, after reviewing the long-term viability of automotive production for Canada”  following the American Suzuki announcement. Continue Reading »

American Suzuki raised some eyebrows after news broke yesterday the company was cancelling franchise agreements with numerous dealerships in the U.S. The company was already under close scrutiny after making the bold decision to quit selling cars to focus on powersports when it filed for Chapter 11 in November. Reducing its dealer network appears to go against that idea, at least on the surface.

Facing some backlash for the decision to cut dealerships, American Suzuki has spoken up, explaining the decision. Larry Vandiver, American Suzuki sales and marketing senior director explains the actual number of dealerships being cut loose is 98, not the the 100-200 dealerships initially reported by PowersportsBusiness.

“We’re not cutting 200 dealers. Approximately 90 percent of our dealers received a letter that their contract has been assumed by ASMC,” Vandiver tells PowersportsBusiness. “It’s all part of our restructuring under Chapter 11 to secure long-term growth of Suzuki.” Continue Reading »

When American Suzuki announced it was shutting down its automobile business, the company said it intended to focus on its powersports operations. It comes as a surprise then to some dealers that Suzuki is not renewing all of its dealership agreements.

According to DealerNews, dealerships received letters this week from American Suzuki notifying them whether their franchise agreements would be renewed with the newly formed Suzuki Motor America. Some dealerships received letters telling them their agreements would not be picked up and they would no longer be authorized Suzuki dealers as of March 31.

“ASMC is assuming certain dealer agreements and other contracts and assigning them to Purchaser, while the majority of ASMC’s remaining contracts will be rejected,” reads a copy of the letter obtained by DealerNews. Continue Reading »

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved American Suzuki‘s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, allowing the company to begin its restructuring. As announced last November, Suzuki is getting out of the automobile business in the U.S. to focus on motorcycle, ATV and marine divisions.

The Honorable Scott C. Clarkson of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana formally approved the plan with the acceptance of American Suzuki‘s creditors.

The first order of business is the formation of a new company to be known as Suzuki Motor of America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. American Suzuki will sell off its motorcycle, ATV, marine and automotive parts divisions to the Suzuki Motors of America. The process is expected to be complete by March 31. Continue Reading »

Suzuki made headlines earlier this week when its American subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 and announced it is quitting the automobile business to focus on motorcycles and its marine operations. American Suzuki‘s car business has been struggling for a while and it remains to be seen how these developments will affect its motorcycle business.

Today, Suzuki released its report for the first half of its 2012-2013 fiscal year, providing much needed context to the earlier news. Globally, Suzuki reported a profit of 41.9 billion yen (US$527.5 million) over the six months ended Sept. 30, 2012. This represents a 30.9% increase on the profit of 32.0 billion yen in the first half of the previous fiscal year.

In North America, however, the news is less positive. Suzuki reported net sales of 47.7 billion yen (US$600.4 million) for the first two quarters, down from 49.6 billion yen (US$624.3 million) in the same period of 2011. Despite the decreased sales, the bottom line improved to a profit of 700 million yen (US$8.8 million), an improvement from the loss of 300 million yen in the same period last year.

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