Suzuki chosen as SA’s Brand of the Year, again
The Japanese compact car specialist was chosen as South Africa’s Brand of the Year in the 2017/18 Cars.co.za Consumer Awards – powered by WesBank, making it the first brand in the history of the awards to retain this award and the only brand to win the award more than once.
“Unlike the other awards on the night, the Brand of the Year Award is chosen purely on questionnaire feedback from owners and fellow South Africans, which is a sure sign that our hard work done on our service levels, vehicle line-up and pricing is welcomed by the market,” says Mr. Yukio Sato, managing director at Suzuki Auto South Africa.
In choosing the Brand of the Year, Cars.co.za and market specialists Lightstone Auto polled over 12 000 consumers with an in-depth Consumer Satisfaction Survey. Of these, 7 500 were verified.
For the many other vehicle categories, judges considered the consumer feedback and then selected their finalists from a pool of eligible semi-finalists. These cars were evaluated over two days by 39 judges at the Gerotek testing facility in Pretoria. The combined scores from the judges and the customer surveys decided the winners in the various vehicle categories.
Suzuki was also called to the podium to receive the first prize in both categories in which it competed, compact family cars and budget cars.
In the Compact Family Car-category, Suzuki’s Vitara retained its crown, receiving the highest score by the judges and in the customer satisfaction survey. This is the second year that the Vitara was chosen as the Family Car-winner, and this year judges noted that it won with the highest margin of any vehicle in any category.
Also read: Suzuki kicks off 2018 on high note
In the Budget Car-category, for vehicles priced at R175 000 or less, the Suzuki Ignis won over its sibling, the Celerio, last year’s winner. In this category, fuel consumption, affordability and innovative design carry significant weight, and while getting high scores from judges, its score from owners was significantly higher than all the other scores and that assured it the Budget Car-crown.
“The Ignis’s maiden appearance in these awards bodes well for the rest of the year, where it will also compete in the 2018 WesBank South African Car of the Year competition. We have also decided to cap its sales price to accommodate the many people who are on the Ignis waiting list,” says Sato.
Via: Suzuki Auto South Africa