The Japanese brand sold 1,629 vehicles last month, beating its previous record by 48 units/3% and ranking it in the nine top-selling OEMs in South Africa. Suzuki also sold the most vehicles ever through its dealer channel, easily breaking its previous record. To put the new sales record into context, it is a massive 46.6% higher than in October last year.
In contrast, South African vehicle sales remain depressed, and total sales for the industry for the year to date are down by 3.1%. Despite this, in October sales proved to be more resilient than in previous months with a total of 51,978 vehicles sold for an overall growth of 0.2% compared to the same month last year.
Suzuki has not only received the attention of customers in the month of October. On 31 October and 1 November, the company watched as no-less that three of its best-selling models were evaluated as finalists in the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards.
Naresh Maharaj 29 Oct 2019
At the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards, judges chose the Swift 1.2 GLX, the Swift Sport and the Vitara 1.4T GLX Auto as finalists in the budget, fun hatch and compact family car categories respectively.
Divisional manager for sales and marketing at Suzuki Auto South Africa, André Venter, explains that Suzuki South Africa has managed to secure a steady supply of vehicles from its many international factories. This, combined with the strong and continuous growth of the dealer network has meant that customer orders could be fulfilled more rapidly.
Suzuki was named one of the fastest-growing brands in 2018 and is set to repeat this feat in 2019 thanks to the success of new models such as the Suzuki Swift, Ignis, Vitara Turbo and the Jimny.
