Northeast dealers shutting down

[China Greg]

According to a good friend who is a veteran Suzuki parts manager in the New York suburban area, there have been about 58 motorcycle dealerships that have shut-down within the past few months.
He thinks the total number of dealers is (was) about 300.

[PitterB4]

It's a sign of the times.  I know that 2 of the 3 Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealers closest to me have closed in the last couple months. 

[skibum]

I own an 07 Jeep Wrangler.    More of their dealers should close............so should Chrysler.  Build and sell junk and get what you deserve.

[dhcolesj]

I hate to hear that kind of thing.  Obviously none of us would say Suzuki makes junk, generally.  The problem is that the Govt. here is bailing out the wrong side of the deal.  they need to spend all that money and just pay off the mortgages of those who are in debt.  That would infuse the economy like nothing else, and would relieve these banks of bad debt, and houses they can't resell. 

Anyway, I don't want anyone losing their job, I know it would be bad for my and my family.  I just pray this starts turning around soon.

[China Greg]

Yeah, I can see whay there is almost nothing new in the motorcycle lines for 2009. All the Turtles have pulled their necks in.

Geez, if we had any IDEA of how long this economic mess would last, we could at least PLAN, huh? Me, I got fired without warning from a modestly-good job after 20 years with one company and replaced by a young kid (who I foolishly introduced to work for ME).
That was ten months ago, and I'm on the Ragged Edge at this point. Good thing I'm single. Believe me; if you HAVE any kind of a decent job at this point, kiss your boss's AZZ and by no means ask for that RAISE you were thinking about. It's TOUGH out here!

Well, like Jimi Hendrix sang,"it's okay man, I've still got my guitar"...
In my case, it's a nicely-modified Bandit 12.

[skibum]

I hate to hear that kind of thing.  Obviously none of us would say Suzuki makes junk, generally.  The problem is that the Govt. here is bailing out the wrong side of the deal.  they need to spend all that money and just pay off the mortgages of those who are in debt.  That would infuse the economy like nothing else, and would relieve these banks of bad debt, and houses they can't resell. 

Anyway, I don't want anyone losing their job, I know it would be bad for my and my family.  I just pray this starts turning around soon.

I didn't mean to imply that Suzuki makes junk.  Quite the contrary actually.  Every Suzuki vehicle I've ever owned (2 or 4 wheel) has been fantastic.  I was commenting on Pitter's post about Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep dealers closing.  My Jeep should be the poster child for why we do not want to bail out the big three.  The Jeep is the first non-japanese vehicle I've purchased in twenty years and it is rolling junk.  Worse, Chrysler customer service is unimaginably bad.  They deserve to fail as does the rest of Detroit.  Their business model has failed and their management is both myopic and greedy.  It's simple boys, build a quality product at a reasonable price, then give good customer service and people will beat a path to your door.  Ask Toyota or Honda.

[Slider]

I'm sorry to hear all this. I agree that Suzuki cars and bikes are good since I've had both. Still, my current car is an Intrepid RT that is 8 years old and I've had very very little trouble with it. If I had any complaint it would be that the electric body controler black box has malfunctioned 3 times. At least is did not disable the auto the way some GM ones did. Chysler paid for two of 'em and the third cost me perhaps $280. That's still dam good since that's essentially all I've paid in 8 years. I can't speak for the current crop of pug nosed beastes, though. I said to the salesman that they look like the predecessor to the the Intrepid - 300M group, not the successor. Still, I'm goobering over the Magnum RT.

 Generally I would credit them for massive improvements of quality, as I see it. The trouble is that the Japanese iron has also improved. The Suzuki Esteem I bought had nary a problem. It was just too small when my needs changed.

Too cold to ride here as it is currently -7C or approx 21F

The fat guy in the red suit comes soon.

[Red01]

Funny thing is, America can build good cars. Several have won J.D. Power Initial Quality awards this year.  Seven out of the 18 model awards went to domestic (North American) makers.  Asian cars outperformed with nine wins and Mercedes-Benz won the other two.  So, it seems they are starting to get it... but with many folks having ingrained beliefs that we can't build a good car, it's going to be an uphill battle.  IMHO, one of the keys is for them to build better economy/entry-level cars.

Talking with a co-worker earlier in the week who bought a new Honda (SUV) over the weekend. He mentioned the Honda dealership was very busy - all the sales people were occupied with potential customers and more folks were wandering around without 'help' - while the Dodge dealership next door was dead.

[Geoffwhite18]

Dodge and chrysler deserve to DIE. They have built junk for a long time now. They have the worst gas milage of any vehicle on the market. At least ford and GM have made an effort to build echonomical cars. Ford uses mazda parts, and GM uses toyota parts.

[ippo]

My wife`s toyota corolla take only 4,5L/100km.She drives 20km/day in  the city.Average speed 38km/h.

Edit:type corolla 1,4l sol.

Here is bandit (in english) in Finland.http://www.nettimoto.com/simpleSearch.php?show=inline&status=F&id_bike_type=&id_sub_type=&id_make=77&id_model=1292&id_engine_model=&pfrom=&pto=&yfrom=&yto=&efrom=&eto=&eng_type=&mileageFrom=&mileageTo=&id_domicile=&search=Go+%3E%3E

[skibum]

Funny thing is, America can build good cars. Several have won J.D. Power Initial Quality awards this year.  Seven out of the 18 model awards went to domestic (North American) makers.  Asian cars outperformed with nine wins and Mercedes-Benz won the other two.  So, it seems they are starting to get it... but with many folks having ingrained beliefs that we can't build a good car, it's going to be an uphill battle.  IMHO, one of the keys is for them to build better economy/entry-level cars.

Talking with a co-worker earlier in the week who bought a new Honda (SUV) over the weekend. He mentioned the Honda dealership was very busy - all the sales people were occupied with potential customers and more folks were wandering around without 'help' - while the Dodge dealership next door was dead.

I really don't think those "initial quality" numbers mean much.  Yes, Detroit has improved if you use that as your metric, but when was the last time you saw anything made by the big three that still worked essentially as new eight or nine years after leaving the dealer?  My wife's Toyota is almost nine years old and is pushing 200,000 miles.  I change the oil, pump gas and occasionally buy new tires.  It still has its original clutch, alternator, starter, a/c compressor, master cylinder and exhaust.  In addition, the engine has never been opened up for anything.  Everything, and I mean everything, in the car still works.  To look at it, you would never guess that it is more than a few years old.  Oh yeah.......it also gets 45 mpg on every tank of gas put through it.  My Jeep, in contrast, is less than two years old, has fewer than 25,000 miles on it and it is on its third torque converter, has persistent cooling system problems, paint is falling off the door hinges, the top leaks like a sieve and it has been recalled twice for major safety issues (and it appears as though a third recall is in the offing).
I knew better than to buy this thing but I just couldn't resist a four door soft top with serious offroad ability.  In retrospect however, I should have bought a Toyota FJ Cruiser. 

[Geoffwhite18]

The problem isn't their ability to build a good car, the problem is the price involved in building a good car. Japanese car makers don't have to deal with the union crap that american auto makers do, and they are able to find ways to keep the cost of the cars down without sacrificing quality.

[Red01]

I really don't think those "initial quality" numbers mean much.  Yes, Detroit has improved if you use that as your metric, but when was the last time you saw anything made by the big three that still worked essentially as new eight or nine years after leaving the dealer? 

My wife's Buick just turned 12 years old.  It has ~135,000 miles on it and everything still works just fine on it.  The letters on the push buttons in the steering wheel have faded a little from use, but it has never had anything done to it beyond routine maintenance - with the exception of two recall notices, one for a new steering box and the other for a valve cover gasket - and both of these have been withing the last 2-3 years.  It's a pretty good sized car, but still gets 26-28 mpg.  And way back in '97 it rated fairly high in initial quality, but wasn't the class winner.

OTOH, I've owned several Jeeps (and still do) and I agree, they've needed more wrenching than my wife's Buick... but if you want a rig to go off-road with, they're still my choice.  Toyota lost me when they quit building 4x4's with solid front axles.  (I've owned a FJ-40, too... along with Ford, Chevy, Suzuki and International 4x4's over the years.)