The Clone Wars
go! - South Africa|June/July 2023
When Suzuki, an ambitious upstart on a stellar trajectory, and Toyota, the long-reigning heavyweight champion of the South African automotive industry, launch the same car in the same week, it makes for an interesting bunfight...
PIERRE STEYN
The Clone Wars

You can blame Covid-19 or the insipid economy - or both - but the trend of buying down is real. Choosing smaller and cheaper options instead of splashing out has become prevalent in all sectors, including the motoring sector. Last year, entry-level cars accounted for almost half of all the country's passenger car sales.

If you dig deeper into the numbers, you'll find that more than a third of these cheaper car sales were entry-level SUVs. As a result, the Suzuki Vitara Brezza (introduced in 2021) and its clone, the first-generation Toyota Urban Cruiser, were both huge success stories. More so for Toyota than Suzuki... Thanks to the strength of that Toyota badge, more than a thousand Urban Cruisers were sold per month. The Urban Cruiser outsold the Suzuki by a ratio of at least two to one, even though the Brezza cost less and had a more extensive warranty and service plan.

The fact that Suzuki was being beaten by a rebadged version of its own car must have been a source of irritation on showroom floors countrywide. Not that Suzuki was complaining too loudly... It's now the third-largest seller of passenger cars in South Africa, behind Volkswagen and Toyota, thanks to its wide offering of entry-level vehicles.

この記事は go! - South Africa の June/July 2023 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は go! - South Africa の June/July 2023 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

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