Sales surge puts Suzuki on the road to 2% market share

Suzuki GB has increased its UK registrations by 24% to 10,172 over the first five months of 2023, despite not having a full electric model.

“We are ahead of target in retail and fleet and have seen most growth in true fleet and Motability,” said national fleet sales manager Lee Giddings.

“Our product works; we don’t get full EV until next year, but conventional hybrid still appeals to a lot of people.”

Giddings said Suzuki had increased its focus on customer relationships during Covid and the semi-conductor supply issues.

“We want to be the number one car brand for trust,” he said. “We kept our terms in place, protected prices and gave stock where we could. That loyalty is paying dividends now.”

Suzuki supply levels will be back to normal levels in the second half of the year, and it is experiencing an order run rate that puts it “back in line with 40,000 units – our pre-Covid run rate”, Giddings said.

While registrations are biased towards SUVS, the Swift supermini remains a key model and will be replaced toward the end of this year.

Twelve months later, Suzuki will launch its first full electric model, codenamed eVX, and that will be followed by one new EV every year for the subsequent five years. Some will be model replacements; others will be incremental to the range.

“Electric product sits with the premium brands, so it has been less pressing for us as aa value brand to launch – we have to be affordable EVs,” Giddings added.

The company has a 3-2-1 business objective: 3% return on sales for its retail network; 2% market share; No1 for trust.

“With our current run rate and full supply, we will get to 2% market share next year,” said Giddings.