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South Africa - News of a downturn in the new vehicle market has not reached Suzuki South Africa’s national head office in Gauteng, where the company is celebrating a stellar 19.7% year-to-date increase in sales, claims the automaker.
According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), Suzuki has welcomed 2 275 new owners to the fold since the start of the year. This represents a sales-increase of 19.7% over the same period last year, compared to a general market decline of 2.2% for the industry.
Suzuki SA says: “We are delighted with our sales performance over the past four months.
“In a tough trading environment, customers look for the best value in the market, and we believe that our product line-up, combined with the service offering by our national dealer network, delivers just that.”
Suzuki’s growing popularity among private and fleet buyers was recognised earlier this year, when it won the WesBank / Cars.co.za brand of the year award. This award is decided solely on the feedback from owners, who are polled in a nationwide Cars.co.za poll. Suzuki beat five other popular brands to the top spot as South Africa’s favourite brand.
In the same Awards, the panel of judges chose the Suzuki Vitara and Suzuki Celerio as their top picks in the compact family car and budget car categories respectively. In awarding these prizes, the judges picked their own favourites and compared them to feedback from thousands of owners collected in a comprehensive survey.
The Celerio was also singled out by CAR Magazine at their annual Top 12 Best Buys Awards, where it beat two other finalists for the hotly contested title as South Africa’s best budget car. Both industry awards identified the Celerio as the best all-round offering for buyers on a tight budget.
Suzuki claims that models such as the Celerio, Vitara, Swift and Jimny are firm favourites in the market, thanks to their combination of high specification levels and – on all but the entry-level Celerio GA – a standard service plan.
Suzuki added: “Whether you are looking for a sporty hatch, an affordable 4x4 or the best budget car money can buy, Suzuki has to be on your shopping list. This is especially true in tough times, where we all have to make every cent count.
“Suzuki is Japan’s favourite maker of compact cars and is growing its market share in many countries across the world. The entire range offers great value, good safety features and is well known as reliable, easy-to-repair vehicles."
