Suzuki's small-car sales surge

The Toyota Yaris and Hyundai Getz may be duking it out for first place in overall sales in the Light Car class, but featherweight Japanese car maker Suzuki has snuck up on the competition.

Suzuki is enjoying its strongest sales in its 36-year history in Australia, including its best ever March, driven largely by its strength in small cars.

When sales of the Swift and Alto are combined (both are classified as Light Cars) the pair of Suzukis (3603) rank second outright, between the Yaris (3831) and Getz (3180), according to sales figures compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries for the first three months of 2010.

Perhaps more significantly, however, the Suzuki cars have a much higher appeal among private buyers than do its peers.

The Suzuki Swift has a class-leading private buyer rate of 90 per cent, while the Alto is also high, at 86 per cent.

Meanwhile, according to the breakdown of VFACTS figures supplied by Suzuki, almost half of Hyundai Getz sales are made up of fleet and rental orders (58 per cent private buyers), while the Yaris has 68 per cent private buyers.

Only the Mazda2 gets close to the Suzuki pair, with a private buyer skew of 86 per cent. The Mazda's sales are likely to be boosted with a price realignment and a new model (made in Thailand instead of Japan) from next month.

Swift sales remain surprisingly strong despite the fact the current model is in its fifth year of sales and an all-new model is due in the first half of next year.

Suzuki Australia managing director, Tony Devers, says doubling the number of model variants in the Swift range, thanks to a number of limited editions, has helped keep the Swift fresh.

The three staple Swift models have typically been the base model Swift, the Swift S (with curtain airbags and alloy wheels) and the hot hatch Swift Sport (with a 1.6-litre engine instead of the 1.5).

But since the middle of last year there have been three other models in the Swift line-up to plug the small price gaps between the three main models. A base model Swift with curtain airbags for a $700 premium instead of a $2000 premium on the S model which bundles curtain airbags with alloy wheels, a special edition called 'Beat' (alloy wheels, decals and Bluetooth) and a sports edition called RE4 (sports seats, digital controls for air-conditioning, alloy wheels, Bluetooth, rear spoiler valued at $3500).

Recently, Suzuki also dropped the price of the flagship Swift Sport to $23,990 drive-away. Previously it was $23,990 plus on-roads so this is in effect a $2000 saving.

"Swift just keeps going strong," says Devers. "We had a record month and we've had good supply. And once Alto kicks in we'll be right up there."

The Indian-made Suzuki Alto (pictured), which requires premium unleaded even though it is one of Australia's cheapest cars, had a rocky start when it was introduced in September 2009.

With a starting price of $14,990 drive-away it was deemed too expensive.

But Suzuki slashed the price by $2000 from January 1 and the car sold out instantly. Since then, Suzuki has been caught short.

"We've had none of the [high grade] GLX Altos for two months," he said. "We actually had to buy 70 off the Queensland distributor to fill some long back orders."

Devers said there was a delay in delivery of the Alto because the cars must come from India.

"It takes six months from the time we order the Altos to the time they arrive," he said. "With Swift, which comes from Japan, it's about three months, so we can react more quickly."

Devers said part of the delay was the six to seven weeks the Altos spent on a ship from India. "They have to detour via Singapore, there's currently no direct car ship to Australia from India. Getting cars from Japan is only three weeks on the water."

Devers said Alto sales projections were conservative when the model launched last year, because the exchange rate was unfavourable.

"But now the exchange rate is better and we dropped the price, boom, it just took off," he said. "$12,990 is the price point for that car."

Devers said Suzuki has tripled its order rate for the Alto and expected to sell 500 a month from late April, once the shipments ordered last November begin to arrive.

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