“We are very small and have the potential to grow,” said Rick Suzuki, president of American Suzuki Motor Corp. and the grandson of the founder of Tokyo-based Suzuki Motor Corp.
So far this year, Brea-based American Suzuki Motor’s sales growth has outpaced that of other automakers,some of which have begun to feel the pinch of higher interest rates. American Suzuki’s total vehicle sales through July grew 38%, while all automakers combined posted a 4% decline in vehicle sales for the first seven months of the year, according to an automobile industry sales report by Rubin Postaer and Associates.
Keep in mind, though, American Suzuki has a lot more room to grow than most automakers. The company is one of the smallest in the U.S., taking up only 0.2% of the market. Through July, the company sold 36,568 vehicles, vs. 27,346 in the year-ago period.
Rick Suzuki became president of the U.S. business in January 1999 when Manabu Nakamura left after a year and a half in the position. Rick Suzuki has been a part of Suzuki Motor Corp. since 1977 and previously was a vice president of CAMI Automotive Inc., a joint venture of Suzuki Motor and General Motors of Canada.
Suzuki said he hopes to stay on at American Suzuki for at least five years, or about twice as long as a typical Japanese executive stationed here.
He may have to stay that long to reach his goal of 100,000 in yearly vehicle sales. Last year, American Suzuki sold 49,588 vehicles here. The company aims to sell 60,000 this year and hit the 100,000 annual mark in the next few years.
The company is streamlining its operations here. It has reorganized the administration functions of its automotive, motorcycle and marine divisions into one operation.
“We will see the results this year,” Suzuki said.
It also hired a new advertising company, Santa Monica-based Colby Essler & Partners, and combined the advertising efforts of its three divisions into one.
The company faces a perceptual challenge in that American Suzuki is known more as a motorcycle company and not a car company, Rick Suzuki said. Suzuki Motor Corp. has had its auto business here for 20 years, but it has had a motorcycle presence in the U.S. since 1963.
But Suzuki has been working to raise its profile. It sponsors the Heisman Trophy for college football and it is the founder of the Suzuki Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego.
Rick Suzuki also is planning to grow the number of the company’s dealerships here. Along with the popularity of sport utility vehicles, new dealerships have been a driver of Suzuki’s growth.
“We are doing that in all areas. We want to grow aggressively and steady,” he said.
When Suzuki became president, the company had 320 dealerships across the nation. Suzuki has grown that number to 376 and plans to hit 400 by the end of the year.
“We are right on target,” Suzuki said.
Suzuki’s Grand Vitara and Vitara sport utility vehicles are accounting for about 70% of the company’s sales growth here. So American Suzuki is coming out with a new, larger sport utility vehicle, the XL7, in a bid to grab a bigger share of the industry’s fastest growing segments.
“The U.S. market is a big-car market,” Rick Suzuki said. “We are hoping (the XL7) will help us reach our goal.”
The new sport utility is due to be in dealerships by January 2001.
Suzuki Motor has done well overseas. Suzuki Motor sold 1.8 million vehicles worldwide last year. The Suzuki vehicles are popular in Europe, Asia and especially in India, where Suzuki Corp. has the majority of the automobile market, according to Celeste Speier, a company spokesperson.
Besides the new sport utility, the company plans to introduce another new vehicle in the next few years, Speier said. n
