Suzuki Auto South Africa (SA) will introduce a new commercial vehicle to the local market this year.

The introduction of the four-door Baleno hatchback is also on the cards, with no launch date confirmed yet.
Suzuki Auto SA MD Yukio Sato says the commercial vehicle to make its debut this year will be a mini truck, in what will be a new segment for the local arm of the Japanese manufacturer.

The Celerio hatchback is currently the least expensive car offering from Suzuki in South Africa.

“We are also studying the introduction of a new passenger car at around R100 000,” notes Sato.
“Many people in South Africa are buying used vehicles because they cannot afford a new vehicle, and we would like to change that.”
Current bestsellers for Suzuki are the Swift, the Celerio and the Jimny. There is also hope that the newly launched Vitara sports utility vehicle will make a meaningful contribution to the sales charts.
Sato is hopeful of a boost for the Japanese marque in 2016, with Suzuki sales down 3.5% for the first ten months of 2015, compared with the same period in 2014, in what is turning into an increasingly negative domestic new-vehicle-sales environment.

The company recorded 33% growth in 2014 over 2013, selling around 6 500 units.
Suzuki sold around 6 000 units in 2015.

Contributing to a negative economic climate is a depreciating rand, which has created “a very tough situation” for importers.
“Who at the beginning of 2015 could have foreseen that the rand would have depreciated as much as it did last year?”

Sato hopes that sales in 2016 will again increase well above 6 000 units, in what is likely to remain a negative South African market.
The not-so-long-term goal is to reach 10 000 units a year.
Suzuki Auto SA sales and product planning manager Charl Grobler believes the company’s product portfolio of smaller, more affordable vehicles is “well suited to people buying down”.
“We introduced a number of vehicles in 2015 which offer good value for money. “This has protected us in what is a very negative market.”
Suzuki Auto SA currently imports around 70% of its vehicles from India, 10% from Hungary and 20% from Japan.

In 2010, only 10% of vehicles were imported from India.
The manufacturer was quick to realise that producing and exporting vehicles from Japan was becoming a costly exercise in a volatile, post-recession global economy, and shifted production to more cost- effective locations.
“Our India plant specialises in small cars, which is why we hope for more success in the [South African] small-car segment by offering a suitable vehicle at a decent price,” says Sato.