Suzuki had its best sales performance in Australia for almost a decade in 2022, growing volume 23.5 per cent year-on-year.
The Japanese company sold 21,578 cars last year across Australia (including in Queensland where it has a separate distributor), passing the 20k mark for the first time since 2013 (22,075).
This result placed Suzuki 15th overall, ahead of the likes of Tesla, Audi and Honda, and narrowly behind BMW and GWM.
Its market share finished at 2.0 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent the previous year. This gave the company its highest market share since 2012 (2.2 per cent).
The bad news for Suzuki Australia going forward is that its top-seller in 2022, the low-cost Baleno light car (6124 units, up 57.2 per cent), has now been discontinued, meaning the company will need to find volume from other models this year.
Number two for Suzuki in 2022 was the massively popular Jimny 4×4, which still has extensive wait lists into its fourth year on sale. The little beast returned 5697 sales last year, up 70.1 per cent, and demand remains sky high.
The evergreen Swift, once Suzuki’s sales superstar here, managed 4405 sales (up 6.6 per cent), but was held back by limited supplies from Japan. Suzuki has told us it expects to get greater levels of stock this year to help make up for the loss of Baleno, however.
The Vitara small SUV managed 3114 sales, down 16.8 per cent. While some of this decline is no doubt due to the vehicle’s ageing, supply out of the Hungarian plant is also very limited, and is expected to remain challenging into this year.
MORE: Suzuki Swift, Jimny and Ignis supply to improve for 2023
“Unfortunately, supply and shipping issues were behind Vitara sales not maintaining share in 2022,” the company said.
The cute little Ignis baby crossover found 1878 buyers, down 5.1 per cent, but Suzuki says it saw good momentum in the second-half of last year and expects this trend to continue.
Finally, the European-sourced new S-Cross – criticised for its opening price point – managed 360 sales in 2022, and like the Vitara will remain supply constrained for some time yet.
In terms of what to expect in 2023 beyond better Swift and Jimny supply, there’s a strong chance the long-awaited Jimny five-door will lob by year’s end.
Suzuki plans to introduce a hybrid version of the S-Cross in early 2024 as part of a broader plan to offer HEVs across most of its range – and potentially some other form of electrification as previewed this week by the eVX concept in Delhi.
You can also bank on a new-generation Swift appearing in 2024, as hinted at by the camouflaged spy images here.
MORE: Suzuki Swift, Jimny and Ignis supply to improve for 2023
