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Suzuki's US Road Trip Promotes Halo Brand

Suzuki is rolling through the Midwest and Northeast this summer, visiting fairs in Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont. The point is to promote its halo car, the Kizashi sedan, but the company showing off Japan market vehicles like the Wagon R, which is the top-selling vehicle in Japan, and the X-HEAD concept vehicle.

Suzuki, which has been marketing its cars for several years in the U.S., now has more reason than ever to talk up its auto business here, as vehicles like the Kizashi sedan are no longer essentially Korean Daewoos built by General Motors.

Marketing Daily caught up with Steve Younan, director of marketing for Suzuki's automotive division in the U.S. Younan, who replaced Gene Brown in the position last year, was at the Meadowlands in New Jersey for the kick-off of the Suzuki Kicks road show.

Q: What does Kizashi represent for Suzuki?

A: It's the flagship for our brand and it the reflects personality of Suzuki and the technology, design and style that we have been working toward in terms of changing Suzuki's brand image in the U.S. and world wide. We had always been known as a basic commuter car in the U.S. but we have been trying to move toward a more evolved position where the value, not just the price, is central. We are trying to democratize technology; we are trying to bring big-ticket elements you'd normally see in aspirational cars down something people can afford without sacrificing quality.

Q: Which vehicles do you benchmark for direct comparison with Suzuki cars?

A: We usually target a class of vehicles rather than one specific model. For Kizashi, for instance, we targeted Audi A4, Volkswagen Passat, Alfa Romeo 159 and Acura TSX. Kind of that $30,000 to $38,000 price class of mid-sized sport sedans. We are offering a solution to people who aspire to these cars.

Q: Who's buying Kizashi these days?

A: We are seeing a bit more of a male skew, maybe 65% of buyers are male, but I hope to expand [consideration among women]. Our focus has been toward performance-oriented enthusiasts. But we know there are a lot of females who like the driving experience who want control of the car and don't want the car to control them. We have been a little overly focused on the male side of the equation.

We have changed our ad strategy though.