Suzuki walks away from micro cars

Suzuki has quietly ditched the Celerio micro hatch from its local line-up, citing dwindling sales.

"It's not discontinued in terms of production by Suzuki, but we've just had very low demand for the vehicle," says Andrew Moore, Director of Automobiles, Suzuki Australia.

"We probably had some come in maybe six or seven months ago, which we've sold. And at this point we're not importing any more. [That's] not to say that we won't in future, but we just didn't have the demand for it."

According to Moore, it's not that the Celerio was the wrong sort of product, it's more a reflection of car-buying culture in Australia. We are reluctant to spend five-figure sums on anything smaller than a light hatch.

"If you have a look at the micro segment in total, the sales are so small now, and… a lot of those sales aren't actually to private customers... they're to fleets or used by the dealerships as service loan cars or things like that," Moore explained.

"There's just very little retail demand for micro cars in Australia, I suppose, because there's plenty of space, so we can drive bigger cars."

The time for micro cars has passed, Moore suggests – at least until fuel prices begin to climb through the roof once again. That's the segment's one saving grace, in a market where size counts and cachet is reserved for more expensive cars.

"I'll tell you something about the micro segment, young people do not buy it, because young people are more aspiration-inclined. They would rather buy a three-year-old Swift for 12 or 13 grand, than a [new] Kia Picanto or even a Celerio," Moore continued.

"We found with Alto, when Alto had ESC [electronic stability control], and no used cars had ESC, we had a really good run with Alto in those early stages. Once it got to three or four years old and you could buy a second-hand Swift with ESC for 12 grand it sort of lost its advantage, if you like.

"Celerio started pretty well, but you find it's more retirees going into those cars, where they don't need [to transport] as many passengers. They're happy to save some money."

Moore says that the Ignis has also played a part in ending the Celerio's run.

"For $10 more a week, they could move into a car that probably offers a lot more, in terms of style... so finance is also another key factor..."

Micro cars – not just Suzukis, Moore insinuates – are always perched precariously on a slippery slope.

"It's hard to make money out of them too... it's not like we're sitting here saying: 'oh no, we're losing a heap of income'.

"By the time we advertise it, it owes us money."

"It's price-sensitive, so the factory would say to me: 'well, put the price up', and I'd say: 'We just won't sell any'.

"Anything over $13,990, pretty much forget about it."

There's still a chance that the Celerio could make a return in the event the business conditions improved.

"If exchange rates change, or they can get the cost of manufacturing down, or if… there's a fuel crisis and there becomes demand, I could still order them whenever I want. We just haven't brought any in and no one's stopping at the door saying: 'Hey, I've got 20 customers lined up wanting a Celerio, where is it?'"

Moore says that he's more than happy with the sales performance of the light passenger cars in the range and the Ignis.

In South Australia and Western Australia, Suzuki is the number one brand for private sales of light cars, and number two in Victoria. Sales in New South Wales have fallen behind because that was the state where stock of the previous generation Swift ran out fastest.