Another form of motorsports feels the pressure of the global economic crisis. This time it’s the FIA World Rally Championship. Suzuki has recently announced that they will be withdrawing from the WRC effective immediately. The company states a need to focus more on its core business.
Suzuki was fielding two SX4 WRC cars in the championship. At first, Suzuki entered the sport of rally via the Junior World Rally Championship in 2002 and it wasn’t until 2008 that the company moved into the WRC. Though the factory will no longer compete as a team, Suzuki said it will still support customers who enter JWRC and Swift Cup events as private teams.
Suzuki said in a statement that it "foresees the shrinking trend in long-term periods of time rather than a short-term phenomenon" and plans to "focus on…core business functions." This seems to be a tune being sung by many companies nowadays.
As the economic crisis ups the pressure on a lot of these global companies, sectors that aren’t as vital to the company’s survival, like motorsport, start getting scaled back. Hopefully for motorsports fans, this is only a stop-gap strategy.
Source: Inside Line
Photo: Suzuki Motor Co.
