CASE ANALYSIS

SUZUKI SAMURAI
SUBMITTED BY:
ANVESHA REYAZ (2014PGP052)
MATHEWS MATHEWS (2014PGP197)
PRATYUSH BISWAS (2014PGP269)
SAKSHI YADAV (2011IPM090)
SRESHA SHERIF (2014PGP353)
VIDIT VARSHNEY (2011IPM119)
VISHWAJIT MISHRA (2014PGP425)

SITUATION ANALYSIS
Michio Suzuki founded Suzuki Loom Works, a privately owned loom manufacturing
company, in 1909 in Hamamatsu, Japan. In 1954 it changed its name to Suzuki
Motor Company, Ltd.
Suzuki changed its policy many times according to the market requirements. Suzuki
started with introducing its products in Japan and then exporting it to various
foreign markets (100 countries). It started off with motorcycles and was now
producing trucks & subcompact cars as well.
Japan's voluntary restrain agreement (VRA) quotas made it impossible for Suzuki to
export any cars other than the Sprint to USA in future.
In1985 Suzuki introduced the SJ413 an upgraded model of SJ 410 and designed
especially for US market as further delay would increase the threat of Brand
Clutter'. Suzuki planned to market two versions of the Samurai in USA, a
convertible and a hard top.
There were other players who were also planning to enter the market. Hyundai
Motor Company & Zavodi Crvena Zastava (yugo) were expected to enter in 1986.

POSITIONING
From the exhibits provided we can figure out that there were two things
which were important for the customer while selecting a vehicle:
Physical Characteristics (Design/appearance)
Price
Based on its physical characteristics, the major three positioning options
for Samurai SJ413 were:
Position as a compact sport utility vehicle
Position as a compact pickup truck
Position as a subcompact car

INTRODUCTION
of
SUZUKI SAMURAI

Current Standing

Problems/Aspirations

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POSITIONED
as
SPORTS UTILITY
VEHICLE
PROs of Sports Utility Vehicle

Price of $5995 was economical which gave it an edge over

other alternatives

CONs of Sports Utility Vehicle

Few SUV lovers doubted that if the smaller size would

suffice

Has 4 wheel drive capacity and would drive well-off road

Foreign owners are appreciative of Samurais reliability,

maneuverability and ease of repair. Consistent with
Samurais heritage and positioning in other countries. So,
it would be familiar and would give buyers confidence to
buy it
ASMC can position as Samurais Tough Little Jeephighlighting the compact yet sturdy structure

There is no guarantee about the sales volume generated

as the market for sports utility vehicles was 3% of the total
automobile industry sales. It would not be possible to
achieve the target annual sales of 30,000 units within 2
years

POSITIONED
as
COMPACT PICK
UP TRUCK
PROs of Compact Pick Up Truck

CONs of Compact Pick Up Truck

Market was larger than that of SUVs which about 2.5

times

The trucks were subjected to a tariff of 25% when

compared to a 2.5% tariff of cars

Feasible Option, as without a back seat or a folded back

seat marketing it as a truck would be possible

The advertising would require projecting it as a tough

truck. But this might probably not be in sync with the
most associated phrase with it: fun

Japan has VRA on car shipments to the US but there is no

such agreement for trucks

It was also male-targeted in a market where one third of

The purchasers for another Suzuki product SJ410 were
women

The price of $5,995 would seem at par with the other

truck prices thereby not seeming to be a skyrocketed
price in the U.S market which had a high acceptance for
this price

POSITIONED
as
PROs of Sub-Compact Car
Offered the largest market with sales of 1, 752,248 units
for 1984

CONs of Sub Compact Car

SUB-COMPACT
CAR

Provides stiffer and less comfortable ride

Economical Price of $5995 and versatility will attract

customers
Gas Mileage of 28 miles per gallons in city and highway
driving is advantageous
Looks can emphasized during promotion as styling
SJ413 was becoming a preferred option as a means of
Commutation for everyday use by professionals in Europe.
People in California were also driving SUVs in town even
though there was no specific positioning. So, a change in
the mindset of the people would lead to better acceptance
of Samurai

Samurai was built on truck platform. So positioning it as a

Sub compact car might not match with the consumers
expectations

UN-POSITIONING

STRATEGY

PROs of Un-Positioning Strategy

CONs of Un-Positioning Strategy

Appeal to a larger pool of customers and ensure

acceptance

Possibility of losing SUV loyal customers

Will lead to better customer satisfaction because they can

identify the car as per their perception and needs

Could lead to ambiguity in the perception of the car

in some customers mind

Will lead to improvement in sales

Would have to forego the opportunity of establishing itself

in the low cost SUV market

ALLOCATION OF
ADVERTISMENT
BUDGET

Allocation of Advertisement Budget of 2.5 Million

As the market is the largest for compact truck, the budget

allocation should be maximum for this

It is viewed as a SUV traditionally. So, to attract loyal SUV

customers, advertising has to cater to their needs too

For the compact car segment, attributes such as appearance

should be highlighted so that the youth find it appealing

CONCLUSION
Positioning of a product/brand is a precise technique based on the results
of primary and secondary research. The marketing manager must acquire
specific data from the market regarding the value and the competitors of
the brand along with the division of the potential buyers demographically
and use this data to segment the market and position the brand to target
the selected segment. A major advantage of the positioning process is that
the marketers target only the niche markets and hence create more value
of the product for the customers.
Apart from positioning, there also arise some situations in which
positioning the product for a specific segment leads to the loss of the
customers of the product for the other segments in which it is equally
profitable.