Second-best May puts Suzuki on track for record 2010

By Tim Beissmann | June 04th, 2010

Suzuki Australia says it is on track for a record-breaking sales year, having sold more new vehicles in the first five months of 2010 than in its best ever year.

From January to May, Suzuki sold 9985 cars in Australia, 25.5 percent ahead of 2009’s year-to-date figure and 264 cars clear of 2008 – the Japanese company’s most successful year Down Under.

A total of 2260 sales in May lifted Suzuki’s market share to 2.4 percent for 2010 (up from 2.3 at the same time last year), placing the brand in a strong position to achieve its 2010 goals according to general manager Tony Devers.

“That puts us on track to meet our target of 25,000 vehicles and 2.6 percent market share,” he said.

The Swift was again the brand’s strongest performer, recording 1115 sales in May for a 10.1 percent share of the sub-$25K Light segment. Year-to-date sales are 12.7 percent ahead of 2009 at 5292, although its market share has dropped marginally from 10.1 percent to 9.6 percent.

A lot of this is likely to do with the introduction of the baby Alto however, which is effectively a competitor in the sales data. As it was not on sale until the second half of 2009, the Alto had a zero percent share of the market at this time last year, but now has a 2.5 percent share for 2010.

May saw 245 Alto models registered by Australian owners, but Mr Devers explained high worldwide demand and upgrade works at the Mumbai Port in India have both proved constraints recently.

He confirmed that stocks of the GLX variant will arrive in June and July and subsequently expects sales to lift.

The Kizashi had an impressive first full month on sale with 244 examples of the new mid-sized sedan finding homes. The result placed it sixth in the sub-$60K Medium segment, behind the Toyota Camry, Mazda6, Subaru Liberty, Honda Accord Euro and Ford Mondeo, but ahead of the Holden Epica, Volkswagen Passat and the Hyundai i45 in its first month.

“The Kizashi launch has been an unprecedented success for the company.

“Inquiry via our website and at dealerships has set new records for Suzuki Australia and there is strong demand for the new car,” Mr Devers said.

Sliders for Suzuki included the APV, Grand Vitara, Jimny and SX4. All were down for May as well as for the whole of 2010 compared with last year. Grand Vitara, Jimny and SX4 all experienced year-to-date losses of between two and eight percent, while the APV is down 47 percent in 2010, having sold just 98 so far.

TomJ

Holden still sell the Epica? Amazing.

G

They sell it, but nobody’s buying.

Leon

Whats wrong with Epica?

geegee

its a piece of……….

rentakeyboard

Ask an owner they all say they are great

Ricky

The Epica is probably the best value car on the market right now. It’s $23,990 drive away for the 6-speed automatic straight six. This is actually cheaper than the smaller Cruze! The Cruze is $22,990 drive away, but that’s for the manual. The auto is $24,990, $1,000 more than the Epica. Also, the Epica CDX now has a standard body-kit which really improves the looks.

Smithy

Cheapest price does NOT equate to value.
When the product is so bad as the Epica, any price is a rip-off.
Holden should be ashamed to put their badge on this second rate piece of cr&p.
David

i agree

Yianni

Good stuff Suzuki. It shows that if you build a good car and price it right it will sell well…

I’m surprised that it has sold better than the i45, but I guess this has something to do with the price of the i45 being a little bit too expensive for my liking.

The new Swift should also be a hit when launched as well.

Ricky

Er, the i45 only just went on sale May 24, so it’s only been available for 8 days of the month. The Kizashi on the other hand was launched about 2 weeks before the i45, so it’s been on the market about twice as long.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1285962287 Declan Collins

Next month will be better to compare i45 and Kizashi sales.
Shak

Generally its good to give new models in this class at least two months of sales to how they will fare. because this segment is so crowded and so jam packed with choice, consumers often dont know which car to choose. Give it two more months and kizashi and i45 sales should pick up.
davo

I test drove a top of the range model Kizashi and was seriously impressed
best build quality and included extras for the $$$ and was a fun drive.
Against it was the lack of headroom i am 6ft 1 and felt a little cramped in the front and the rear seat head room even worse.

Michael

I am 6’4 and I had no trouble in the Kizashi at all, lower the seat and off I went, if I did have to pick fault with it, it would be that the glove box hits my knees when i open it, but im splitting hairs just to pick that out.

Vibe

The Kizashi is a really good car. Great quality a lots of kit for the price.

The special edition Swifts usually have some really good stuff in there too.

Devil’s Advocate

I was quite impressed with the build quality of the Kizashi, especially the interior. However it does appear half a size smaller than the Euro, Liberty and 6. I also thought that it looked a little strange around the rear shut line of the rear door when looking at it from side on. IMHO it didn’t seem to flow with the rest of the car.

http://baji192.wordpress.com Baji

IMHO i think i thought the Kizashi had a higher quality interior than i45, and were on par with if not better than both the 6 and the accord euro. Apart from the top part of the dash, everything else you could touch was wrapped in soft material and padded nicely – the i45′s surfaces although soft to touch also, was not nearly as thickly padded as the kizashi. The kizashi’s buttons and knobs all had a fluid nicely damped feel of quality where as the i45 and other competitors seem to have cheaper feeling controls.

In person the i45 looks stunning, and the kizashi not nearly as awkward as in pictures.

Ricky

Except the LCD displays (both temp & audio) on Kizashi look terrible like they’re from the 1980s. Very large and pixellated digits and can only display very limited characters (1 single line) in the audio display. Not really up to 2010 standards, I’m afraid.

AAA

Google “CVT reliability” and see what you find.

Hung Low

Plenty of old information on dud belt drive CVT’s used mainly on euro cars!
Modern CVT’s are chain drive, have less moving parts than a conventional transmission and if serviced appropriately are just as reliable.
Your point in relation to the Kizashi again???

Ricky

Kizashi is not doing well in the US at all – only selling around 50 a month over there compared to 10,000+ i45s per month. I think there are 2 main reasons – 1 is the name, which is too weird for conservative American buyers, and secondly the car is just too small for a mid-size sedan by US standards. Of course, Suzukis very small presence in the US market is a factor as well – many folks over there won’t even consider the brand, not that they have much to offer in the US market anyway.

Smithy

OK Ricky, we get it that YOU are pushing the Hyundai competitor to the Suzuki being discussed here.

Please, enough of the salesman push-my-brand-rubbish-the-rest stuff.

And US sales are not in indicator. Suzuki has always been a low volume niche brand there.
Whilst we’re on it, doesn’t it suck for you that Ford sold more F150′s last month than the entire range of Hyundai!

Hung Low

Do not forget the Suzuki reputation was damaged in the US when they had to sell re-badged GM Daewoo crudd boxes.
Sales are not an indicator of the better car anyway. Look at the Camry!

Toyota Hater

Are u joking? As I know that Kizashi is sold about 500 units per month in US. Not bad. Furthermore, Kizashi is assembled in Japan and exported to US with small amount. i45/Sonata is built in Hyundai factory in Alabama, US.

toxic_horse

I seriously can’t wait for the AWD Kizashi to come out. Ill pre order one and trade in my SX4 !

Hung Low

If they add a 3.2 V6 with the AWD as first proposed, they would have an ideal all rounder mid size sports sedan like the older Liberty 3.0R but much cheaper!

Sean

I can see why Suzuki have been doing so well. Their whole range is pretty nice looking these days. Suzuki & Mazda have both improved hugely over the past decade or so in the looks department. Though I have never owned either myself.
While the Kizashi is way too big for my needs. If I was in the market for a mid-sized sedan, I’d probably go either a new Kizashi (provided I could get used to the naff name) or a demo/fairly new Skoda Octavia.
Sumodog

If they bring V6 AWD model i would consider it too. But only if proper manual tranny is offered.