American Suzuki To File For Bankruptcy, Stop Selling Cars

American Suzuki Motor has announced that it plans to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and that it will begin focusing its attention on selling ATVs and motorcycles, rather than cars. According to its statement, this move is unrelated to its Japanese counterpart. There's no word on when exactly all this is going to take place.

The company is pulling out of the US automotive market due to a variety of reasons, including poor exchange rates and low sales. While it will no longer sell cars, the company is still going to provide all-terrain vehicles, as well as motorcycles and outboard motors. In addition, American Suzuki will also continue to honor existing warranties.

American Suzuki offered this statement. "While the decision to discontinue new automobile sales in the U.S. was difficult to make, today's actions were inevitable under these circumstances...[Suzuki] intends to work within its current U.S. automotive dealer network to help structure a smooth transition from new automobile sales to exclusively parts and service operations, or, in some instances, an orderly wind-down of dealership operations."

Suzuki has experienced turbulence lately, selling only 21,188 automobiles, a drop of nearly 5-percent from last year. This comes after an overall increase in the US automotive market of 14-percent through last month. Suzuki has approximately 246 dealers in the United States, which are likely in for some big changes in the coming months.

[via USA Today]