Suzuki Swift Makes More Sales Advances on New Zealand Market

The Suzuki Swift, New Zealand’s favourite new car for private motorists, has made further sales advances in the highly competitive motor market.

In the first five months of this year sales of new Swift hatchbacks increased by 32.4 percent while in the same year to date period total demand for all new passenger cars in New Zealand actually declined by 5.1 percent.

The Swift captured 33.2 percent of the light car segment in the January to May 2018 period, according to official Motor Industry Association statistics. This was a healthy advance on the model achieving 24.3 percent penetration for the same time frame last year.

In May the Swift accounted for 32.1 percent of light car sales compared to 18.6 percent for the same month in 2017.

“The strong selling Swift continues as an easy leader in its class,” said Gary Collins, General Manager of Automobile Marketing for Suzuki New Zealand Ltd. “The model has also been a strong driver in Suzuki increasing its share of the total new passenger car market from 7.5 percent in the first five months of last year to 9.3 percent year to date.”

He said there had been buoyant demand for the newly introduced turbocharged Sport version of the Swift which was being independently acclaimed as “the affordable performance benchmark”.

Suzuki’s reputation for building fuel efficient compact cars has been substantiated by two more overseas awards. ‘What Car?’ journal in Britain has named the Suzuki Ignis hatchback as the “Best True MPG” (miles per gallon) car for 2018. It was the overall winner with a figure of 4.7 litres/100 km (59.6 mpg) and was rated the most economical car tested by the editorial team over the past year.

Suzuki has also achieved one of the best “real MPG” scores of any car brand according to users of honestjohn.co.uk website. The Celerio was voted the “Best Real MPG Performer” by Honest John in their top ten recently analysed cars.

The “Real MPG” section of the Honest John website was launched five years ago following complaints from readers that their cars could not match official fuel economy figures.

Readers can log the true fuel economy that their own vehicles are achieving into a database of more than 150,000 fuel consumption submissions. The database covers over 2,500 models and engine configurations of cars since 2006.

Daniel Powell, managing editor of Honest John, said, “Suzuki has one of the best Real MPG scores of any car manufacturers. On average, Real MPG drivers get 90 percent of their advertised economy with a Suzuki - the industry average is 83 percent.

“The Celerio will return 93 percent of its claimed economy at over 4.7 litres/100 km (60 mpg) in everyday driving. Factor in the Celerio’s affordable price and generous equipment levels and it’s easy to see why this little Suzuki is held in such high regard by Honest John’s 2.3 million readers,” said Powell.

In New Zealand Suzuki offers the widest range of small passenger and SUV models, backed by a Real Value policy that includes a three year / 100,000 km warranty, 2 year powertrain extension and a full five year roadside assistance plan.