Suzuki

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

VANCOUVER – Honda has launched its second-generation Fit subcompact car just as soaring fuel prices have driven up sales in a vehicle class once considered fit only as second cars and student wheels. The 2009 Fit began rolling into dealerships this month, earlier than expected because Honda Canada has gone through its allocation of the old 2008 version, says executive vice-president Jerry Chenkin. “Basically we ran out of product,” he says. “The shift in the marketplace and consumers’ taste has been so rapid that basically we could not react quickly enough to the demand.” Pricing for the new Fit, slightly larger, more spacious and with a peppier engine, will start at $14,980 up to $20,480, about $1,000 more than the top-selling Toyota Yaris. Subcompact cars such as the Fit, the Yaris, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Versa made up seven per cent of new vehicle sales in Canada last year but their share is growing. Their U.S. market share is much lower – about 3.66 per cent for the first seven months of this year, according to J.D. Power Ltd., an industry research firm. But U.S. sales spiked along with fuel prices this year, up 39 per cent compared with 2007 when the segment’s market share was 2.34 per cent, leading the industry. Only three of the other 26 vehicle segments that Power tracks – subcompacts, wagon-like compact crossovers and mid-sized cars – grew at all, says Tom Libby, Power’s senior director of industry analysis in Troy, Mich., outside Detroit. “The industry over the same time period is down over 11 per cent,” says Libby, adding in July alone, subcompact had a 4.6 per cent market share. “To lend some perspective to it, it is greater than the share for mid-sized vans and mid-sized utilities and pickups. Using a lot of different measures it’s doing very, very well.”The single-digit market share may not seem like a lot but translated into projected U.S. new vehicle sales of about 14.5 million this year, that’s more than 500,000 cars – almost a third of all new Canadian sales last year. In Canada, subcompact sales soared 27 per cent in the first seven months of this year to more than 94,000 vehicles – 10 times the overall new vehicle sales hike – according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. J.D. Power forecasts subcompacts – which it terms basic compact – will reach eight per cent market share this year. Libby says his firm believes the higher U.S. market share is sustainable and could rise further if gas prices continue higher. “Not only gas prices but also these products are different than what had been in the segment before,” he says. “They’re no longer really econo-boxes that are sort of perceived as very, very cheap. Also there (are) more models coming in the segment, so we see this segment staying robust.” Foreign makers dominate the subcompact market and even North American companies rely on offshore models in the segment, at least for now. Chevrolet imports the Korean-built Aveo and Ford plans to offer its European-designed Fiesta for 2010 built in North America, which probably means Mexico. Chrysler is said to be considering China as the source of a new subcompact. Low-cost manufacturing will be crucial to the success of any new subcompacts from the so-called Big Three automakers, says Libby, because factory and dealer profit margins for them have always been low. “The lower margins, if they exist, will be a limiting factor,” he says. “There’ll be less motivation for the companies to make them.”The Fit sold here is made in Japan but Chenkin says Honda’s philosophy is to bring production close to target markets. Bringing Fit production to North America will depend on growth in demand, he says. The current model Fit ranks fourth in sales in its segment and about 10,000 have been sold so far, tracking for 16,000 for 2008. Chenkin says the sales target for the new version is 20,000 cars a year. Honda makes about 400,000 vehicles, mostly Civics, at its Alliston, Ont., plant and is opening a new engine-manufacturing facility next to the plant later this month. Canadian and American drivers flocked to small cars in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo and the 1979-80 oil crisis triggered by the U.S. confrontation with Iran. Consumers went back to larger vehicles as soon as the heat was off. But Libby said sustained high gas prices may shift North Americans’ thinking about smaller cars closer to the European approach. Subcompact and compact cars are the norm in Europe, where fuel prices have always been much higher. Models come in all grades, from entry level to luxury. Chenkin agrees this may be a more permanent change, spurred partly by higher prices and more environmental consciousness. “But my feeling is that unlike previous gas crises where as soon as the price of fuel went down, people came running back to larger vehicles, I think this time we’re seeing a very different trend,” he says. “It’s not cool to drive a gas guzzler right now.” The success of premium subcompacts such as the Mini and the stylistic flair of the Fit and its competitors is helping make them more desirable to North American buyers. “I think they’re perceived as more acceptable, more mainstream, less purely utilitarian and cheap than they were,” says Libby. “I think that helps the segment a lot. They’ve lost that negative connotation.”

TOKYO – Cash-strapped General Motors Corp. will sell its entire stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for about US$230 million, the automaker’s latest move to stay afloat while awaiting a decision on government aid for the industry.Suzuki said today it would buy back the 3.02 per cent stake from the American auto giant (NYSE:GM), which is seeking a US$25 billion government lifeline, together with Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, to weather the deepening economic crisis.While the sale is indicative of GM’s near-term cash challenges, the proceeds are not very meaningful, Buckingham Research Group analyst Joseph Amaturo said in a note to investors.”GM is expected to burn (use up) $4 billion to $5 billion in (the fourth-quarter) or roughly $1.5 billion per month. Hence, the cash proceeds from the sale of its equity stake will not even cover one week of expected cash burn,” Amaturo said.Hit by the worst sales slump in more than 25 years and frozen credit, GM has warned that it might not survive through year’s end without the U.S. government’s financial support.Hardline Republican opponents of an auto industry bailout have branded the industry a “dinosaur” whose “day of reckoning” is near, while Democrats pledged yesterday to do their best to get Detroit a slice of the $700 billion originally earmarked for a Wall Street rescue.Suzuki said GM’s stake sale was necessary for the ailing American automaker to raise capital, but the Japanese company insisted it would continue a business partnership with GM.”We fully understand the necessity for GM to raise cash,” Suzuki chairman and chief executive Osamu Suzuki said in a statement. He said he was in close contact with GM chief executive Rick Wagoner, and the two companies would keep joint projects, including the development of hybrid vehicles and a Canadian joint venture for sports utility vehicles.In Canada, the two companies operate the joint venture CAMI Automotive Inc. plant in the southwestern Ontario city of Ingersoll, where they plan to stop making Suzuki XL7 s’port utility vehicles because of slow sales in the United States.The plant currently has a workforce of about 1,500 building the Chevrolet Equinox and Pontiac Torrent as well as the Suzuki XL7. About 525 workers are already on indefinite layoff after one shift was cut in April because of falling sales.The GM-Suzuki partnership dates to 1981 but those ties loosened after GM sold a 17 per cent stake in Suzuki in 2006, leaving it with its three per cent interest.GM lost US$2.5 billion in the third quarter and warned that it could run out of cash in 2009 if the U.S. economic slump continues and it doesn’t get government help.The automaker plans to lay off about 3,600 workers beginning early next year as it slows production at 10 of its assembly plants.In Canada, GM says it will shut down its pickup truck plant in Oshawa, Ont., near Toronto, next fall, cutting 2,600 jobs. GM also plans to close its transmission factory in the southwestern Ontario community of Windsor, affecting another 1,400 jobs.

Nissan is getting in on the low-priced compact car war with its entry-level Versa sedan 1.6.And Nissan didn’t play a “Price is Right” undercutting move by pricing the car $1 lower than the competition, but rather the Versa sedan’s $12,498 sticker is $712 less than the $13,210 Toyota Yaris – the best-priced 2009 model up until Nissan this week made the price adjustment. The new low price is only half the news. Nissan Canada is bringing in a full range of Versa 1.6 sedans including a base vehicle and a Value Option Package model that is unique to Canada.The Value Option Package adds air conditioning, power windows, heated power mirrors and remote keyless entry, among other features. Nissan says safety won’t be compromised either: the Versa 1.6 gets six standard airbags, including front-seat and side-curtain airbags.The new price improves on the Versa hatchback by $1,100, and should do a good job of luring new customers into Nissan showrooms, especially when factoring in that the cheapest Kia Rio or Hyundai Accent starts with an MSRP of $13,595, a Chevy Aveo or Pontiac G3 Wave gets an MSRP of $13,770, and the same basic car with a Suzuki badge, the Swift+, stickers at $13,995.

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