Is the writing on the wall for Suzuki Automotive in the U.S.?

The Suzuki SX4 still leads sales for American Suzuki, but sales are still slow.

As you probably know by now, I'm very interested in Suzuki Automotive's future in the U.S. Part of that reason is because I own two of them! As we know, there've been ups and downs, dips and dives over the last several years. However, according to an article on Automotive News, it looks like the writing might be on the wall for American Suzuki Motor Corporation's automotive division. Dealership closures, plummeting sales, a shutdown of its social media sites in February, and so on and so forth.

The article points out that Suzuki has lost U.S. franchises each year since 2005 falling from more than 500 to 246, and that of those remaining dealers, amazingly, 150 of them still sell five or fewer cars a month. How can you stay in business like that? You likely can't. Plus, the article says that in January, the company stoppled getting customer satisfaction data from J.D. Power and Associates, which helps to track dealer performance. That certainly doesn't sound good.There are a host of other reasons things seem dismal for ASMC, too.

So even though Suzuki quietly announced a partnership with Garmin (another company that is reportedly struggling) for an in-car infotainment system at the Chicago Auto Show—one of the only national shows the brand attended—it didn't share any info about any redesigns or new models. This was the case when I interviewed Jeff Holland from Suzuki a few months back.

So is this it for Suzuki or will the brand still limp a long?

SOURCE: Automotive News