By Marina MelloJapan’s Suzuki Motor Corp is pulling the plug on its unprofitable car sales business in the US after nearly three decades, hurt by a strong yen and a limited choice of vehicles that failed to excite American consumers.However, Jonathan Brewin, the president and CEO of local Suzuki dealer HWP, said he was not expecting there to be any impact on Bermuda Suzuki owners “as we source all our product and parts directly from Suzuki in Japan”.In a statement HWP received yesterday, American Suzuki Motor Corp “reaffirmed its commitment to the continued development and advancement of Suzuki vehicles outside of the continental US market”, including the Caribbean and Bermuda.Suzuki announced yesterday it would use a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by its US subsidiary to shut down the auto business and to focus instead on sales of motorcycles, All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV) and boats.Reuters reported the bankruptcy could allow Japan’s number four automaker to step away from its contractual responsibilities to the more than 200 dealers who maintain franchises, much as General Motors and Chrysler were able to drop dealerships in their 2009 bankruptcies.Brent Murphy, general manager of the Authorised Suzuki Distributor for the Caribbean region noted in a news release yesterday, shared by HWP, that the success of the brand over the last 35 years has earned the region its nickname “The Golden Territory”.“Suzuki’s new model plan started with the 2012 Swift, which has been a great success for the brand, and continued with the 2013 Grand Vitara”. Murphy elaborated further, “next year will see the introduction of a new cross over for the European territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, followed closely by the other markets in the region”.Murphy went on to say, “the new model line-up was introduced by Suzuki at the recent Latin American Conference in 2011 in Barbados, where Suzuki executives announced their plan for the next four years to all the distributors in the Caribbean, Central and South America.“We could not have achieved our successes without the phenomenal group of dealers throughout the region and our loyal base of customers who truly believe in this great brand. Our dealer network is honoured to be representing the Suzuki brand which is synonymous with reliability and which started the small SUV revolution.”