Suzuki: Stayin' Alive With the Samurai

Suzuki: stayin' alive with the Samurai

ROUNDUP

With motorcycle sales at Suzuki down about 50 percent and only one new streetbike announced for 1987, it’s clear that Suzuki is currently putting most of its efforts into its Samurai automobiles. Already, the export goals for Suzuki cars have been revised upward by 50,000 units to a total of 480,000 for the year, a 23-percent increase over the previous year. Thanks to these lightweight, low-priced cars that don’t conflict with its competitors’ products, Suzuki seems to be the only Japanese motorcycle/car maker managing to survive the recent currency fluctuations with relative ease. This tactic in car production seems to be working quite successfully for Suzuki—enough so that it is likely to assure the survival of the motorcycle division even if sagging bike sales continue.