Suzuki Australia has long held a position as a small car specialist and affordable car expert – if any brand on the market embodied the ‘cheap and cheerful’ ethos, it was Suzuki.
But the Japanese brand has now said those days are gone, with stricter emissions standards, greater customer demand for advanced safety equipment and uprated technology in the car meaning products simply aren’t able to hit the same low-budget targets as they have in years gone by.
“Cheap and cheerful is a thing of the past,” said Suzuki Australia general manager, Michael Pachota.
“There are some brands that still try to adopt that model, but it’s just not feasible,” he said, referring to the demands of customers to have better safety technology and in-car multimedia tech, not to mention electrified powertrains for improved efficiency.
“There was a shift there, pre- and post-Covid. Covid has corrected the path in that space, because prior to it, there was an affordability factor to release certain products… to have a cheap and cheerful style of product.
“We had opportunities to bring in lower-spec vehicles in Australia, to capitalise on that segment of the market [pre-Covid],” he said.
“Relatively, bringing those types of products in and charging those lower prices started becoming difficult because of exchange rates. And we started thinking to ourselves there was an expectation with our buyers, they still wanted to have some of those premium features.
“Our prices have started creeping up, but that’s how the market is moving.
“The example of something like Baleno, which was at the lower end of the price scale considering what it was offering… and the products that we’re going to bring in are going to be more feature packed, are going to be a bit more tech-oriented,” said Mr Pachota.
“We’re kind of moving up and growing up from that space. We’re growing up,” he said.
At present, the cheapest model available in Suzuki’s line-up is the Baleno GL manual for $18,490 before on-road costs, but with model soon to be discontinued, the most affordable model will become the Ignis GL manual at $19,490.
On the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive Suzuki offered locally is the Vitara Turbo AllGrip priced at $37,490.
Obviously Suzuki isn’t the only brand that has shifted towards more expensive models with more features as standard in recent years. Toyota, for example, shocked the Australian market when it launched the new Yaris hatch at a price point almost 50 per cent higher than the model it replaced.
Even the el-cheapo MG3, which hasn’t seen any major spec changes over the past few years, has risen in price by thousands of dollars – apparently due to changes in the exchange rate.
Suzuki is set to launch the new-generation Swift next year as a hybrid only proposition, so buyers best get used to the idea of the brand still being a small car specialist, but not necessarily selling the cheapest cars on the market.
Keyword: Suzuki says the days of 'cheap and cheerful' cars are over!