TURIN (ITALPRESS) – Suzuki files 2024 with great satisfaction, the year in fact proved positive in both volume and market share. The Hamamatsu-based manufacturer was rewarded for its forward-looking strategy on total hybridization of the range. According to data released by UNRAE, the National Union of Foreign Vehicle Representatives, Suzuki has registered 37,684 cars in the past twelve months, an increase of 8.30 percent compared to the 34,797 cars sold in 2023.Relative to the 1,558,704 registrations of the total market in Italy during the same period, the figure allows Suzuki to reach a market share of 2.42 percent.Moreover, 2.42 percent is the second best share ever for Suzuki in Italy, following the record of 2.70 percent set in 2021, and the figure confirms the resumption of a now more than 10-year growth trend that was interrupted only in 2022 due to product shortages caused by the combined crises in semiconductor availability, raw materials, and transportation.Also playing an important role in this 2024 expansion was the single month of December, in which the Hamamatsu automaker registered 2,756 cars, a remarkable 35.83 percent increase over the 2,029 cars registered in the last month of last year. In December, Suzuki’s market share rose to 2.61 percent, aided by a general slowdown in the market, which experienced a negative balance of -4.9 percent in the month, down to 105,715 units from 111,201 in 2023.Going into the details of the commercial results related to Suzuki’s various models, Vitara, Swift and Ignis are the main ones to shine. The former confirms itself as the undisputed benchmark of the B-SUV segment, which she created even before anyone coined that definition. With 10,938 registered units it covers 28.92 percent of Suzuki sales in Italy. Vitara, thanks to its renewal with a major restyling in May 2024, has scored 16.30% more in the past 12 months than in 2023.For Swift, it was an important year for generational change with the launch of the new model last May. The Swift family totaled an impressive 10,321 registrations, a figure that places the car in 10th place among the best-selling B-segment cars in 2024.Finally, Ignis sold 9,757 units.Good volumes were achieved by S-Cross: called upon to contend with increasingly fierce and numerous competition among compact SUVs and crossovers, it was able to carve out its own space, reaching 6.286 total registrations.Completing the picture are the “open space” Swace and the plug-in flagship A-Cross, with 271 and 241 registrations, respectively.Finally, in the final balance of 2024, we should not forget the 1,836 registrations of the Jimny Pro, which makes history on its own with its N1 truck homologation.Suzuki’s sales in Italy underscore the strategic importance of all-wheel drive cars. The Hamamatsu-based company has more than 50 years of experience with 4×4 cars and, by tradition, always gives motorists the option of four-wheel drive on all the models it develops (in its list, only Swace does not have an all-wheel drive variant). Its highly loyal customer base, largely composed of individuals, often opts for this type of transmission. In the sales mix, 38.6 percent of Suzuki cars registered in Italy in 2024 were 4WD, about three times the share of integral cars in the Italian market.The automotive world is going through a period of great difficulty and uncertainty, with the much-discussed entry into force of tough new European regulations on CO2 emissions, the halt to incentives at the national level, and the transition to electric power going slowly, as it is still stuck at 4.2 percent market share in Italy in 2024. All of this, moreover, in an unclear context about long-term scenarios, with the targets set for 2035 still under discussion.In such a context, however, Suzuki is ready to face the new year with confidence, knowing that it has a product range in line with the current needs and demands of the Italian public. Its models, 100% hybrid and always available – as standard or on request – with automatic transmission, are offered at clear prices with very rich equipment. The goal for 2025 is therefore to confirm and improve the growth trend achieved in 2024, consolidating the share achieved and perhaps even expanding it, with the first full calendar year on the market of new Swift and the entry on the scene of e-Vitara, Suzuki’s first 100% electric model, planned for late summer.
photo: press office Suzuki Italy
(ITALPRESS).
