Suzuki MC Sales tank 34% in North America, 24% in Europe

[The CyberPoet]

Suzuki report their unit sales for the first quarter of '09 (Jan 1 - Mar 31, 2009) in their corporate earnings report, and it broke down like this:

North American sales: 88,000 units, representing a decrease of 34% over the same quarter of last year in the North American market (i.e. compared to Jan 1st - Mar 31st, 2008).

In Europe, they faired slightly better, with 114,000 units moved in the first quarter, a decrease over same-period-last-year of 24%.

Total Year-on-Year profit is down 49.2% (gross, pre-tax) and 65.8% (net), with additional loss of more than an additional 50% forecast for their 2010 statement. The only place they're not hurting is sales of 1 to 1.3 liter cars, which is climbing steadily (9% increase in April alone).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[sharpie6]

Maybe if their newer models were actually better than the previous ones they would do better.

I dunno, maybe i'm wrong but it seems like lately they have just been adding weight.

[HemiKat]

Our dealership just opened up a Suzuki franchise (Auto) last year, so Ive been taking Suzuki classes and starting to know the cars and corporation. I finally get to know some of the corporation staff when a new guy comes in and says he is the new regional service represenatative. Aparently Suzuki has let go 1/3 of thier corporate staff. Really sucks because this new guy has never turned a wench in his life. Atleast the last rep had worked on cars and could somestimes help on issues. And to top it off, the technical hotline was cut down from four guys to two. So know if I have a question or need authorization on a warranty repair Im on hold for an hour.

[Kila-Beave]

I'm sure the relative strengthening of the yen late last year/early this year didn't help much. That kills profits for the Japanese companies, since they make all their money off exports. In a down economy though, I'd expect most to forgo "toy" purchases ... and to most in America bikes are toys. In Europe more use them for daily transport than here, may be why the sales aren't AS bad there.

[scottynoface]

I'm sure the relative strengthening of the yen late last year/early this year didn't help much. That kills profits for the Japanese companies, since they make all their money off exports. In a down economy though, I'd expect most to forgo "toy" purchases ... and to most in America bikes are toys. In Europe more use them for daily transport than here, may be why the sales aren't AS bad there.

Good call. With gas prices over there the way they are you would expect more Europeans to buy them for gas savings than North Americans.

And +1 on Suzuki not changing their **** up.