Suzuki said that 50 of its dealers have accepted buyout offers from the automaker in the past 5 months as a part of the company’s plan to cut the worst-performing retailers. The voluntary program was launched to dealers in March to encourage low-volume dealers to close their doors.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport
Gene Brown, the marketing vice president for Suzuki, said that the automaker has about 300 dealers in the United States. That’s down from 354 in March.
Brown said that the move was made to give those surviving dealers a better shot at making profits through increases pre-store sales. U.S. sales for Suzuki topped 100,000 in 2006 and 2007 but dropped to 38,689 in 2009 and are off 48 percent in 2010 so far.
