Suzuki Auto South Africa has broken through the 50 000 barrier for the first time in its history.
The brand this week received its final sales figures for the financial year from April 2023 to March 2024. It shows that 51 969 new Suzuki models were sold in the 12-month period, setting a new all-time record and breaking through the 50 000 barrier for the first time.
“We missed the 50 000 mark with the narrowest of margins in the last financial year, when we sold 49 576 vehicles. So it was with great joy that we were informed of our sales figure for the most recent financial year,” says Henno Havenga, the General Manager of Sales and Marketing at Suzuki Auto South Africa.
The new sales record for the financial year crowns a very busy year for Suzuki.
The brand started its financial year in April 2023 with the introduction of the all-new Grand Vitara, its flagship and the first hybrid Suzuki model. The Suzuki Eeco panel van landed in the same month.
Other models joined the line-up throughout the year, including the Fronx and XL6 (August) and the Jimny five-door model (November). The larger Jimny made a guest appearance at Suzuki Auto South Africa’s Jimny Gathering, where 787 South African Jimnys set a new Guiness World Record for the most vehicles to switch on their lights at the same time.
Along the way, Suzuki and its dealers set several new monthly sales records. These include selling the 200 000th South African Suzuki in July 2023, breaking through the 5 000-a-month record in January with 5 249 sales and the Suzuki dealer network selling a record 4 488 vehicles to customers in February.
Suzuki is one of a handful of vehicle brands that have grown their sales and market share in a sharply declining market. In March, for instance, the new vehicle market recorded a drop of 11.3% over the same month last year, its eighth month of consecutive declines.
“People are feeling the pinch of high interest rates and the underlying increase in the cost of living.
“As Suzuki, we are working hard to offer a solution with attractive and reliable new vehicles that are both affordable to purchase and maintain. These value-for-money offerings have proven popular with South Africans and have contributed to Suzuki’s continued success, despite the negative market conditions,” says Havenga.
30 million cumulative units in India
Suzuki Auto South Africa and its counterpart in India shared mutual congratulations and the end of their financial years, following news of the local record and a new cumulative production record for Maruti Suzuki in India.
Suzuki achieved accumulated automobile production of 30 million units in India by the end of March 2024, making it the fastest country in the Suzuki world to reach this milestone. It took Suzuki in India 40 years and 4 months since the start of production to reach this record, which beats the previous record set by Suzuki in Japan of 55 years and 2 months.
Suzuki is the best-selling vehicle brand in India and a major manufacturer on the subcontinent. Models such as the new Fronx, XL6 and Baleno are built here and exported to markets across the world, including South Africa.
“We have shared hearty congratulations with our Suzuki family in India and are happy that we could contribute to their production growth with our growing Suzuki sales in South Africa,” says Havenga.
Liquid Death
Anton Rupert – Dr. Anton Rupert founded the Rembrandt Group in the 1940s. After initially focusing on the tobacco industry (Peter Stuyvesant), his company soon moved into industrials and luxury goods. Rembrandt has since been split into Remgro (an investment company with financial, mining and industrial interests) and Richemont (a Swiss-based luxury goods group). Rupert was also a founding member of the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) in the 1960s. His son Johan has since turned Richemont into one of the largest luxury goods companies in the world.