New Era of Suzuki/Kawasaki Alliance
In August, 2000 Suzuki Motor Corporation and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced an "Alliance". This Alliance was formed to help in parts sourcing, platform production of OEM units, and joint development of new products. And some of the benefits from this Alliance, such as product line-up expansion, came to us instantly.
Today, we are announcing that the Alliance has progressed to a new stage. Since we began selling OEM products from Kawasaki, three years have passed. Over these three years we investigated many factors, such as profitability, sales volume, customer reaction, influence on brand images, and competitiveness of each OEM product. After much discussion followed by careful investigation, we have decided to discontinue the sale of these OEM products.
With the OEM product sales being discontinued, we're announcing that for the 2006 product, the following models will not be available from Suzuki:
RM65, DR-Z110, LT-V700F, M95, and the QUV product.
Discontinuing the OEM products business gives us the opportunity to focus on developing Suzuki's own-design product with Suzuki character and brand image. Suzuki will continue to develop new Suzuki models to replace some of these units in the future.
The RM-Z250 will be produced for 2006. As this is a jointly developed unit, Suzuki and Kawasaki may introduce their own versions of this model with features not being commonly used on both the Suzuki and Kawasaki models. Suzuki Motor Corporation has plans to provide Kawasaki with the OEM product in 2006 as requested by Kawasaki. This will give time for Kawasaki to develop their own models, as well as for Suzuki.
We will keep this Alliance as we continue to review our current status. After a decision is determined for the best business practices, further steps will be taken. Rather than the direct OEM products exchange, it may be more advantageous to consider indirect exchange of their resources so that both companies could keep their brand identities with respect for their loyal customers.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Best regards,
American Suzuki Motor Corporation
copied this from suzuki website
In August, 2000 Suzuki Motor Corporation and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced an "Alliance". This Alliance was formed to help in parts sourcing, platform production of OEM units, and joint development of new products. And some of the benefits from this Alliance, such as product line-up expansion, came to us instantly.
Today, we are announcing that the Alliance has progressed to a new stage. Since we began selling OEM products from Kawasaki, three years have passed. Over these three years we investigated many factors, such as profitability, sales volume, customer reaction, influence on brand images, and competitiveness of each OEM product. After much discussion followed by careful investigation, we have decided to discontinue the sale of these OEM products.
With the OEM product sales being discontinued, we're announcing that for the 2006 product, the following models will not be available from Suzuki:
RM65, DR-Z110, LT-V700F, M95, and the QUV product.
Discontinuing the OEM products business gives us the opportunity to focus on developing Suzuki's own-design product with Suzuki character and brand image. Suzuki will continue to develop new Suzuki models to replace some of these units in the future.
The RM-Z250 will be produced for 2006. As this is a jointly developed unit, Suzuki and Kawasaki may introduce their own versions of this model with features not being commonly used on both the Suzuki and Kawasaki models. Suzuki Motor Corporation has plans to provide Kawasaki with the OEM product in 2006 as requested by Kawasaki. This will give time for Kawasaki to develop their own models, as well as for Suzuki.
We will keep this Alliance as we continue to review our current status. After a decision is determined for the best business practices, further steps will be taken. Rather than the direct OEM products exchange, it may be more advantageous to consider indirect exchange of their resources so that both companies could keep their brand identities with respect for their loyal customers.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Best regards,
American Suzuki Motor Corporation
copied this from suzuki website
