Suzuki Auto South Africa is set to end its blockbuster year with the highest annual sales on record.

The Japanese compact vehicle specialist sold 1 045 vehicles in November, making it the company’s best-ever sales month and the second instance this year that it has reached sales of over 1 000 units.

Suzuki first broke the 1 000-unit-per-month barrier in August this year, the same month it welcomed its 50 000th South African customer. Prior to establishing this new record, Suzuki’s best-ever sales month was a mere month earlier, when it welcomed 744 new customers in July 2017.

In order to deal with the growth in sales and interest, Suzuki has expanded its dealer network with six new full-service outlets in 2017. The company opened dealerships in Bassonia, Constantiaberg, Queenstown, Table View, Welkom and Witbank, while several new sites are also planned for 2018.

Says Venter: “It has been an exceptionally good year for Suzuki in South Africa. Our sales strategy of the past few years, which is anchored in offering good value cars and SUVs and affordable parts and service costs, has seen our sales grow steadily and more and more private buyers becoming part of the Suzuki family.”

While most vehicles in the Suzuki line-up are performing above expectation, it is the Suzuki Ignis that has brought many new customers into the fold. The Ignis’ compact urban crossover design and affordable price tag has won it many customers and several nominations and awards in South Africa and abroad, including as runner-up in the Urban category of the World Car of the Year Awards, and as a finalist in the South African Car of the Year completion for 2018.

Venter expects December sales to remain strong, despite the holiday break, as customers purchase vehicles to benefit from the extended 5-year / 200 000 km mechanical warranty on offer for all passenger vehicles until the end of the year.

Suzuki has also promised to hold all price increases for the remainder of this year, despite a general increase in vehicle prices in the auto industry in the fourth quarter of the year.

“At the start of 2017, Cars.co.za and WesBank named us the brand of the year and shortly thereafter, CAR Magazine said that Suzuki is the brand to watch. We are very grateful that we could live up to those high expectations and we will work hard to build on this momentum in 2018,” says Venter.