END OF YEAR UK - SUZUKI - a large increase in sales means teh brand beats 2015 by a significant margin.

Suzuki is very pleased to announce a record year of sales in the UK with a closing figure for 2016 of 38,190 units, surpassing an already healthy 2015 figure by over 3,700 cars and almost doubling its UK sales volume of just five years ago. Suzuki currently has a 1.42 per cent market share and sits just outside the top 20 manufacturers in the UK.

Sales of the Vitara Compact SUV reached more than 11,500 units for the year, this was largely due to the major success of Suzuki’s ongoing TV campaign with Ant and Dec together with the addition of the S model with 1.4-litre Boosterjet engine. The S model accounts for over 18 per cent of Vitara sales in the UK.

Celerio was 10 per cent ahead of expectation for the year with sales of 8,400 units, this was bolstered by the addition of the SZ2 model at £6,999 and with low Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) rates available from just £79 per month.

Dale Wyatt, Director of Automobile comments: “We are really pleased with our record figures for the year and this proves once again the ever growing popularity of the latest range of cars and the strong relationships our 158 strong dealer network has with our customers. Our ongoing research shows that more than 65 per cent of prospective customers who visit a showroom and take a test drive will buy a new Suzuki.

The future looks bright for 2017 too with the launch this week of the stylish IGNIS Compact Crossover as our latest and most technically advanced model in the range, we are aiming to sell more than 6,000 units as incremental volume, attracting new buyers to the brand.”

Standard equipment for all IGNIS models in the range is comprehensive and the SZ3 model includes six airbags, air conditioning, DAB radio with Bluetooth, 15-inch wheels, body coloured door mirrors, front electric windows and five seat capacity.  IGNIS is available in 11 colours with full personalisation options available for both exterior and interior trim.

IGNIS is available with SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) which lowers CO₂ emissions to 97g/km and also offers ALLGRIP ‘AUTO’ four wheel drive on the SZ5 model. First introduced for the Swift, this is a well proven and simple fully automatic and permanent four-wheel drive layout which transfers additional torque to the rear wheels when required via a viscous coupling.   

As an additional safety feature on the SZ5 model, Dual Camera Brake Support (DCBS) is fitted which utilises stereo cameras located on each side of the drivers interior rear view mirror. These function in a similar way to the human eye and detect lane markings as well as objects ahead (including pedestrians) and also their distance away. This new feature has enabled the IGNIS SZ5 to be awarded Five Stars in the latest NCAP tests