[tsk1979]

A fascinating video on how a hit job by the magazine consumers reports where they fabricated evidence killed Suzuki in USA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3sGkP8HeBY

[Kosfactor]

I think that youtube channel is run by a bunch of people who eats perhaps only donuts.

Like how Ralf Nader did not manage to kill Chevrolet, consumer reports did not kill Suzuki.

Suzuki did not have anything good to sell in US market and the eventual entry of Koreans in the cheap import market wiped Suzuki clean off.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

I think that Youtube channel is run by a bunch of people who eats perhaps only donuts.
...

I think I agree with you. India mod scene video on their channel has facts that are not soo right.

Coming to the topic, the article did give the Jimny a bad repo. Add to that the flimsy Suzuki's didn't help much, which compared with the American cars which were huge.

[condor]

Is that hit job so effective ?

From what I had read, Suzuki today sells more cars in India than most or all other markets combined (where they are present). If not for India, wouldnt they have been a non-entity by now ?

[Vikram Arya]

I would like to offer a contrarian opinion.

From whatever I have read on this topic over the last few years, I’m of the firm opinion that the Consumer Report article did manage to kill the Suzuki Samurai if not Suzuki North America itself.

Suzuki was never a big player in the North American market on account of its product portfolio and it probably never intended to be. When Suzuki Samurai was introduced in the North American market, Jeep had just introduced AMC-designed Jeep YJ that had replaced the fabulous CJ-7. Both critics and consumers did not particularly like the YJ and consumers lapped up the cute little Samurai. The base price of Samurai was $6,200 as compared to close to $10,000 sticker price for the Jeep YJ.

Suzuki Samurai had sold 47,000 examples in the first year, which was a record for any Japanese cars in America. In the first three years, Suzuki had sold over 150,000 Samurais in the U.S. The Samurai was selling like hotcakes and was deemed to be a runaway success.

After the Consumer Reports magazine rolled the test car and gave it an ‘unacceptable’ rating the company insisted NHTSA to issue a recall, but that request was turned down and the damage was done. The CR report spread like wildfire and the Samurai’s sales plunged by 70-percent and they never recovered.

Suzuki Samurai had managed to sell a total of 206,000 units between 1986 & 1995 when it was withdrawn from the North American market. In the same period Jeep YJ had sold 263,000 units. To put things into perspective Suzuki Samurai was a completely unknown entity in the American market and the fact that it almost sold 80% of its volume against an entrenched player such as Jeep speaks to its popularity.

Even today a 30-year-old Suzuki Samurai sells for the same price as the brand new one back in 1991 and I personally know of a number of Jeepers who would pick up a Samurai/Jimny without batting an eyelid.

The fact of the matter is that Samurai or its later avatars would have never replaced the soccer mom SUV that Jeep Wrangler now has become (just go to a North American strip mall and see the number of Rubicons pull up with ladies sporting manicured nails) but had it continued for sale in North America it would have provided an affordable/fun 4X4 to customers who value simplicity & reliability so yes, the Consumer Report article did, in fact, kill the Suzuki Samurai in the North American market.