The ever-green Suzuki Swift hatchback is New Zealand’s top selling new car in the latest year to date sales as it notches up yet another record.

For the first time ever a Suzuki passenger car model has taken the number one position in January to July sales.
The record milestone comes as the popular Swift continues to attract increasing numbers of New Zealand car buyers.
With normal supply resuming for all colours and variants demand for the Swift saw July sales up by 66% over the previous month.

“Total sales of new Swifts reached 325 for the month, an impressive 59 per cent higher than the next best-selling model car,” said Tom Peck, General Manager of Marketing for Suzuki New Zealand.

“Swift is heading for a record seven years as the top selling small car in New Zealand and of course we are delighted that Swift is currently the best selling passenger car overall as well,” he said. “The new generation model launched in the first quarter of this year has built on the sales momentum of its predecessor.”

The international appeal of the model is reflected in New Zealand and Australia. More than one quarter of all Swifts are sold in Europe - more than in the Japanese home market – and the model is also extremely popular in India.

Swift’s local sales were largely responsible for elevating the Suzuki brand into third position in the new car market in New Zealand for July.

Several Suzuki models have posted solid gains in the first half of 2011, with three of its models recording their best month in June.

With the arrival of winter has come increased demand for the ubiquitous Suzuki Grand Vitara with its on-demand four wheel drive capability. Sales of the Grand Vitara in June were the highest month so far this year.

Both the 2.0-litre SX4 and Kizashi sedan models also racked up their best sales months for the year in June.
July also saw the best sales month for the stylish Alto model since its introduction adding to the good demand for small cars Suzuki’s reputation has been further enhanced by the results of a comprehensive survey in Britain. The brand emerged well above average in the latest Warranty Direct reliability survey of 35 motor manufacturers.

The survey’s reliability index takes into account all factors of a repair including the cost of parts, frequency of failures as well as time off road.

Suzuki cars measured in the UK survey had an average age of 4.5 years, had covered an average of 53,740 kilometres and only 15 per cent required any warranty claim. This was far lower than most other brands while typical repair costs for Suzuki cars were also one of the lowest in the motor industry.

ENDS

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