Suzuki Visayas sales up 20%

The improvement of the purchasing power in the Visayas market has pulled up the sales performance of Suzuki cars in Central and Eastern Visayas.

Despite the declining value of the US dollar to the peso, car demand is still at its peak, especially for quality units, said Suzuki Auto Cebu sales manager Leandro Joseph M. Canlobo.

In an interview with The Freeman, Canlobo said sales performance of its distribution in Central and Eastern Visayas rose by an estimate of 20 percent in the last three months, compared to the same period of last year.

Suzuki, an established Japanese car brand has sustained its strong market hold in the Philippine market, despite the entry of new brands, and the problem of car smuggling, as well as the existence of multi-cab assembly here.

“Filipino buying market is very brand conscious, durability of the unit still the top priority of buyers, more than the price,” he said.

He said Suzuki is reaching out to the varied market segments, as it has units designed for different consumer brackets, from as low as less than P400,000, like the Suzuki Alto.

This time, because car purchase is part of Filipino’s top priority, just like buying house, he said Suzuki Cebu is highlighting the availability of its all-purpose-vehicle mini van, fit for family use.

This mini-van called APC SGX-2008 model is a newly designed van which targets consumers who needs affordable, but durable vehicle, which accommodates at most seven people.

This van, he said is expected to stimulate interest to the huge middle-income earners, as it is only priced less than P900 thousand, with easy financial scheme available in partnership with different banking institutions.

Suzuki Auto Cebu, is the exclusive distributor for Suzuki vehicles in Central and Eastern Visayas.

Canbalo said because of the active market for car acquisition, Suzuki is also doubling its effort to further strengthen its brand through aggressive mall events displays, and other strategic promotional campaigns.

Suzuki’s top in-demand unit is the Vitara SUV, which is considered as the most popular model for the upper market segment.

Aside from aggressive promotional campaign, car distributors now are outsmarting each other through value-added offers, to maximize the high interest of consumers.

For Suzuki, he said one of its niches is the offering of two-year preventive maintenance service (PMS), among others.

Just like real estate, or residential projects, strong car sales performance now is attributed to the dollar-earner market, or the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), whose main priority is to buy family necessities, like house and car.

Among its popular car units include; Swift (high-end compact car), Grand Vitara, APV SGX, Jimny and Alto.