16 Jan 2018
Record New Zealand Sales for Suzuki in 2017
Suzuki made further advances in the New Zealand market last year, increasing its customer base and posting record sales of combined passenger and SUV vehicles.
Sales of new Suzuki passenger cars and SUVs for 2017 leapt 31.7 percent over calendar year 2016 compared to an industry average increase of 5.7 percent. A total of 6,983 Suzuki’s were sold in 2017, up from 5,308 in 2016, according to Motor Industry Association figures.
Record sales for Suzuki in 2017 were 22.9 percent up on the previous record set by the franchise in 2008.
Suzuki was the fifth best selling passenger and SUV franchise in December and was in the top six brands for the year with 6.5% percent market share. This was a solid gain over 2016 when the marque was eighth with 5.2% percent penetration.
The introduction of the new Ignis and the updated S-Cross helped Suzuki achieve 27.2% share of the under $40k small SUV segment. This was a 74.6% increase over 2016 with the award winning Vitara being the third best selling model in the segment.
Suzuki also took 24.3 percent of the light car segment with Swift and Baleno.
“Suzuki rightly has the mantle of Small Car and SUV experts dominating these segments,” said Gary Collins, General Manager of Automobile Marketing for Suzuki New Zealand. “We have a great range of compact SUVs and once again the Swift hatchback led the light passenger segment, securing the number one position for the 12th time out of the last 13 years.”
The popular Vitara SUV maintained its position as second best selling Suzuki while the newly arrived Ignis 5-door hatchback was third. Demand for the S-Cross more than doubled and the compact four-wheel-drive Jimny attracted 50 percent more sales last year than 2016.
New Zealand’s success was mirrored in Britain where Suzuki had its best ever year; increasing sales by 6 percent while the total new car industry declined by 5.6 percent.