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From strength to strength: Even more so after 20 years
It’s November 2004 and the all-new Suzuki Swift concept has just been launched at the Paris Motor Show. Fast forward exactly 20 years and the iconic Swift is one of Suzuki’s top sellers, and now in its fourth generation. We recently got to experience this new generation by taking it through the bustling City of Cape Town as well as the picturesque Overberg and Cape Winelands.
Suzuki follows the philosophy of designing quirky, reliable, and sensible cars. Think of the Ignis, the Jimny, Celerio, and the S-Presso. While we think Suzuki’s recent sales success is mainly due to its reliability, it is also mainly due to its motto of designing affordable and stand-out cars.
In our increasingly complicated and bewildering modern lifestyles, I find more and more favour in simple things. Easy stuff. There’s a wonderful wholesomeness to a device that only does what it’s supposed to, and thank Heavens we still get automobiles of such a type: like this Suzuki Swift.
The new Suzuki Celerio has just been launched and it takes to the Southern-African market with quite an ambitious claim. Should Suzuki’s claimed fuel consumption be correct, the Celerio will be the most fuel-efficient car on the current market.
The Suzuki Swift has picked up where the VW Polo and Vivo left off. There, I said it! While Volkswagen and the rest of the car world tear each other to pieces for any morsel of the premium markets, Suzuki is left smiling all the way to the budget bank…
Suzuki South Africa is currently experiencing tremendous growth, breaking their own sales records on a near-monthly basis. The brand which started its reincarnation in 2008 with the sporty Swift now has a few upgrades to its latest generation, launched in 2018.
No, dear reader, I did not forget to add a model year to this article’s heading for this is supposed to be a purchasing aid for every single sporty Suzuki Swift model that arrived on Namibian soil. Our recent journeys with a 2020 Automatic press car definitely helped in this regard.
My bekoring vir die Suzuki Swift het sowat 14 jaar gelede begin. Toe Per-Gunnar Anderson in ‘n helder-geel Swift Super 1600 die FIA Junior Wêreld Tydren kampioenskap gewen het. Met drie seges het Anderson die seisoen domineer. In soortgelyke styl het Aaron Burkart die laaste S1600 jaar in 2010 verower. Hierna sou die Junior Wêreld Tydren kampioenskap na R2 masjiene beweeg.
Since the start of the new decade, we’ve been fortunate to test a range of small hatchbacks, made for the ever-increasing demand of compact, affordable cars for the expanding urban jungle. Some would agree that our public transport systems are becoming a potential headache, with safety being the main concern. Should a new car be the only option to leave this problem behind, we may be able to help.