bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

it's about product and promotion, not pricing gimmicks, which usually don't work and have huge risks.

mitsubishi and suzuki have had mediocre to terrible products and almost no promotion i can remember. result: fail.

mmarshall

I can partially but not totally agree. Mitsubishi products have indeed taken some deserved lumps in poor fit/finish and shoddy materials, but their reliability varies quite a bit from vehicle to vehicle.....from very good to quite poor. And the Evo, of course, has a very dedicated following.

Suzuki products, in the past, have often been budget-grade, but their small SUV, at least up to know, have also been quite rugged....their truck-based, full-ladder-frames and low-range transfer cases allow them to go places off-road that are strictly off-limits for the RAV-4, CR-V, Outlander, etc......

And the SX-4 and Kizashi are fine small vehicles that both, IMO, are easily worth what they cost. The SX-4 is an especially good value for low-priced AWD, starting around 17K or so....and also includes an FWD/AWD/AWD Lock selector switch.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

would you recommend anyone buy either brand?

mmarshall

Depends on how far away the nearest dealership is.....that has been a Suzuki weak point for years (and it doesn't seem to be getting any better). Even in the auto-rich D.C. area, they are few and far between. But, yes, there are two Suzuki products I think are definitely worth the money.....the SX-4 as a less-expensive (and more flexible) alternative to the AWD Subaru Impreza, and the Kizashi, which has nicer fit/finish (and better refinement) than any American-market to date. I also liked the now-extinct mid-size Verona, but it, like several past Suzukis, was a Daewoo product, not a true Suzuki. The Suzuki SUVs are generally not very refined, but can go places that car-baseed competitors cannot.

But, of course, little or none of this matters if you have to travel 100 miles just to see one.

Mitsubishi, on the other hand, I generally have less respect for. Most of their U.S.-market vehicles, for various reasons, don't impress me much (my reviews have generally given them mediocre ratings), but the capabilities of the Evo and Lancer Ralliart as Subaru WRX/STi competitors are obvious. The company also has had a relatively recent history of corporate corruption at high levels. Their dealerships, BTW, seem to be gradually closing down, too, so they are starting to have some of the same problems that Suzuki does with the sparse network.

Mitsubishi, however, like Nissan, is set to introduce a zero-emission, full-electric car into the American market.....though it will be smaller than the Nissan Leaf. Let's see how that does before we throw any more stones at the company.

LexBob2

I sure wouldn't recommend either brand to anyone I know. There are better alternatives for ones hard earned money.

Maybe if either is still in the U.S. down the road, but not now.

IS-SV

I agree, both brands would not be fiscally sound purchases even when considering the best Mitsu and Suzi models offered which are mediocre.

mmarshall

That's probably more the case with Mitsubishi than with Suzuki. Suzuki makes a few models that, from what I can see, are not a waste of money as new vehicles. They badly need to do something, though, about the sparse-dealer problem, which is killing them.....and that, unfortunately, may tie in with a depreciation problem in residual values.

bagwell

I remember seeing 2010 Lancers being advertised for $9999.....probably with no a/c

here ya go...total stripper for $9535.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

IS-SV

Whatever, splitting hairs over degrees of poor financial decisions, either way both brands should be avoided by the financially astute and car savvy.

GS69

Mitsubishi CEO:
We Have No Plans to w/draw from the US

Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko said in an interview yesterday that the Japanese automaker has no plans to pull out of the United States market and he is personally targeting a mid-range sales target of 200,000 units a year, roughly 4 times today’s level of 50,000.

“People have been asking me for the past 6 years whether Mitsubishi’s going to withdraw from the market,” Masuko said. “But it never enters my mind. We have never thought about withdrawing from the U.S. market, and we will not do so.”

Masuko admitted that sales of the company have fallen hard since the brand peaked at 354,111 units in 2002. However, he said he sees sales reversing their decline and said that products, patience, moderate incentives and sustainable growth will be the key.

Sales of Mitsubishi are off about 4% to 36,431 units during the first 8 months of 2010.

spwolf

ASX got pretty darn good reviews in europe...

mmarshall

Auto execs almost always see a pot at the end of the rainbow, even when the rainbow is just an illusion.

syzygy

What cars does suzuki make again? I don't think I've ever seen a suzuki commercial...ever. They could start with that.

Suzuki Equator
Suzuki Kizashi

Never heard of any of these vehicles. "Yeah man I drive a Kizashi." A what?

They could start by investing in commercials/promotion.

mmarshall

Even if they DO advertise, there is still a serious shortage of Suzuki automotive (not bike) dealerships in the American market for customers to actualy shop at.

The Equator is a rebadged Nissan Frontier pickup.

The Kisazhi is a new 4-door sedan that straddles the border between compact and mid-size (and is generally highly-regarded). It comes in FWD and AWD.

Suzuki, in the American market, also does the GM world-platform-based Vitara SUV, and the small (jointly-designed with Fiat) SX-4 FWD/AWD sedan/wagon. The SX-4 is unique, both for its very low price, good reliability despite the Fiat input, and the 3-positon switch for the AWD that allows you to decouple it when the extra traction is not needed. Its closest AWD rival (the Subaru Impreza) lacks the FWD/AWD switch.

LexFather

I don't see how they make any money here. I am shocked they sell 50k units a YEAR. The RX sells nearly double that.

Even at 200k units a year, that is a mainstream brand selling less than BMW, Benz, Lexus.

Outside the EVO no would would miss them. Suzuki is so far gone there is no helping their cause. They better both focus on China.