Suzuki knows that its new Kizashi midsize sedan will have a tough time competing with bigger rivals in the segment – with hopes to avoid that, Suzuki will steer half of this year’s $30 million marketing budget for the new sedan to U.S. dealers.

“The budget for a national launch just wasn’t there, and Suzuki listened to the dealer advisory board about redistributing the marketing funds,” said Scott Pitman, president of Suzuki of Wichita in Kansas.

The 2010 Suzuki Kizashi has started arriving in showrooms as the company aims to shake last year’s drop of 54 percent in U.S. sales, more than double the industry’s decline. Even 2010 started on a bad note, as Suzuki’s sales dropped 44 percent in January while the market rose 6 percent.

Click here to get a price quote on the 2010 Suzuki Kizashi.

Many things depend on the sales of the new Kizashi sedan. The company hopes that its dealers can initially move 1,000 units a month and expand that to 2,500 within a year. If Suzuki can hit 5,000 units a month in global volume, it will consider building a hybrid or V6 variant. Also, if that happens, Suzuki will use the Kizashi platform for other vehicles such as the replacement for the XL-7 crossover.

Click here for more news on the Suzuki Kizashi.

2010 Suzuki Kizashi:

2010 Suzuki Kizashi 2010 Suzuki Kizashi 2010 Suzuki Kizashi 2010 Suzuki Kizashi

- By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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  • Suzuki Kizashi is one of the best models among other vehicles. The market value is in top position now. Also V6 engines are not far from the fans.
  • Ethan1Nordquist
    Suzuki is making great cars now, the SX4, the Swift, Kizashi. The problem about the sales numbers has alot to do with the models that Suzuki discontinued, namely, the GM rebadges it was selling because of an agreement it had with GM. Those models were the Forenza, Reno, and Verona. Forenza by itself accounted for 40% of Suzuki sales, so that is why the sales numbers for Suzuki look worse that other brands. It's because Suzuki VOLUNTARILY decided to stop selling the rebadges. GM had promised Suzuki that it would dramatically increase Quality Control at it's Korean manufacturing plants so that these rebadges would be up to Suzuki standards, since afterall, Suzuki was putting its badge on these cars. But GM didn't live up to its end of the bargain, and Forenza/Reno/Verona never reached the Quality and Reliability standards that Suzuki required. And because of that, it was hurting Suzuki's overall rating for reliability. So even though Suzuki knew it would cause a sharp drop in sales to discontinue the sale of these GM rebadges, they also knew it simply had to be done so that Suzuki could make room for car models that it actually designs and manufactors.
    Thankfully, Suzuki has now completely divested itself of connections to GM, and instead has now partnered with Volkswagen in a strategic move to expand its technological capacity and delve into hybrid vehicles as a joint venture. In addition the union of Suzuki and Volkswagen may even show up in the U.S. as shared dealerships where Suzuki's are sold at joinly run Volkswagen/Suzuki dealerships, just like previously there were GM dealerships that would pick up the Suzuki brand as a "foreign" offering to complement the sales of their domestic brand at dealers lots.
    So Suzuki is now coming back on the scene as a much stronger company than they ever were before in the U.S. with Volkswagen as their partner, and a great line-up of vehicles that are top notch, such as SX4, Kizashi, Grand Vitara, Swift (soon to arrive), with the only rebadge now being the Suzuki Equator Truck, which is based off the Nissan Frontier.
    With those rock solid offerings, and Suzuki's growing reputation for providing alot of "bang for the buck", the company has great potential once again set sales records as it was between 2003 and 2008.
    With all of the current volatility in the U.S. auto market such as Isuzu pulling out completely, Toyota being caught trying to cover-up known defects and facing billions of dollars worth of recalls for bad designs and defective materials as well as liability lawsuits, GM bankruptcy, Pontiac gone, Saturn gone, Chrysler bankrupt sold to Fiat, Honda now facing a huge brash of recalls, the playing field has clearly been shaken up, and all of this gives Suzuki the chance it needs to really shine with its new models and class leading warranty they offer.
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