Suzuki to Aid Needy in U.S. by Giving Share of Car Sales

Suzuki of America has set up a program to donate a portion of its U.S. vehicle sales to organizations that help the nation’s needy.

Toshiyuki Arai, president of the U.S. subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Co. of Japan, told Samurai dealers gathered in San Francisco on Saturday that the company has established the Suzuki Automotive Foundation for Life, which expects to raise at least $130,000 for the year ended next April 1. The foundation, based in Brea, hopes to raise as much as $1 million by 1990, Arai said. Suzuki has been setting aside a portion of the sales of its Suzuki Samurai since last April.

Setting aside a portion of the sales from a product line is becoming an increasingly popular form of corporate charitable giving.

“Through the foundation, we want to help solve problems that touch the people of this country at a personal level, as well as the problems faced by the communities in which they live,” Arai said. The foundation is “particularly interested” in giving money to organizations that provide family and social services, help the unemployed, provide employee retraining or are involved in health care, he said.