PEOPLE : Suzuki Chief Reassigned In Staff Shake-Up : Three Executives Resign After Sales Nose-Dive

American Suzuki Motor Corp., staggering under a dramatic sales decline in its automotive division, said Monday that its president has been reassigned to corporate headquarters in Japan while three top officials of the division have resigned.

Kenji Shimizu, chairman of Brea-based American Suzuki since July and a longtime executive and managing director of the Suzuki Motor Co. conglomerate in Japan, will replace Toshiyuki Arai as president of American Suzuki.

Yoshi Fujii, another longtime Suzuki executive from corporate headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan, has been named to the new position of executive vice president of the American Suzuki automotive division.

A spokeswoman for the company said no replacements have been named for the three U.S. automotive division executives who resigned Monday. They are Doug Mazza, vice president; John Dorsey, sales director, and Larry Messelt, national sales manager.

Samurai Controversy

Mazza and Dorsey were hired in 1985 to create American Suzuki’s auto division, the same year that Suzuki introduced the Samurai sport utility vehicle.

The Samurai quickly caught on with younger drivers interested in low-cost sports vehicles, and sales soared to 81,349 in 1987. But in June, 1988, Consumer Reports magazine criticized the Samurai as being susceptible to rolling over, and sales began to plummet.

Even though a federal study has since concluded that the Samurai is no more prone to rolling over than other similar vehicles, only 3,399 Samurais have been sold in the first eight months of this year.

Sales of Suzuki’s other products--a line of subcompact cars and another sports vehicle, all introduced within the past year--also have been hurt by the controversy. As of Sept. 1, Suzuki had sold only 21,389 cars and sports utility vehicles in the United States.

In its only statement about the management changes, American Suzuki said through a spokeswoman that the company “has undergone significant changes in the past year.”

SUZUKI’S SAGGING SALES

Suzuki Sales

NUMBER OF VEHICLES SOLD August August First 8 First 8 * 1988 1989 Months 1988 Months 1989 All models 12,208 3,300 49,756 21,389 Samurai 12,208 193 49,756 3,399 Sidekick 2,376 13,827 Swift GT 601 3,001 Swift GLX 103 838 Swift GA 57 161

*Suzuki sold only the Samurai Jan.-August 1988. Other vehicles were introduced later in the year and in 1989.

Source: American Suzuki Motor Corp.