Suzuki buyers are too spendthrift to pay the premium carried by electric drive, a brand high-up reckons.

ANY electric vehicle out of Suzuki in the near future would be unaffordable to customers, hence why it’s concentrating on delivering more hybrids – but no longer a budget hatch.

This from the brand’s general manager of automotive sales, Gary Collins.

Speaking to the electric vehicle matter, he reminds 97 percent of new Suzuki sales register in the sub $35,000 sector.

“To be honest, many of our customers simply wouldn’t be able to afford our models if we were trying to offer a full range of EVs now. For example, if we had a Swift EV on the market at the same price as a Nissan Leaf, would our customers buy it?

“The majority of these purchasers would simply not be able to afford a new EV initially. However, these customers will still want to reduce their carbon footprints and running costs, so our more immediate offerings will be an expanded range of hybrid models.”

Suzuki Japan has yet to produce a full electric car, though it has created concepts, such as the Waku (above) seen at the 2019 Tokyo motor show. It has signed a memorandum of understanding to invest $NZ1.8 billion into production of electric vehicles and batteries in India, with local make Maruti. That will be a major tool for Suzuki’s future electric introductions, Collins says.

“But we’ve never been the first to bring new technologies to the market,” he says.

Suzuki has offered Swift GLX and Limited hybrid models, which are similarly specified and lack some important features important to private customers, such as electric rear windows, but the higher-end car has been dropped.

“So we’ve decided to … replace it with a higher-specified RS hybrid which has the likes of 16-inch polished alloy wheels, front and rear fog lamps, keyless entry and start, climate control, automatic headlights and wipers, paddle shifters, and a full suite of electronic safety assist functions.”

The GLX will retain its $27,990 price, while the RS will cost $30,990.

The Whanganui distributor has also been forced to cease with the Baleno (above), its fourth best-seller, because of a head office decision.

The budget hatch availed in 2016 in 1.4-litre GLX and Limited forms, an RS with a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine arriving subsequently.

Suzuki Motor Corporation has decided not to comply a latest facelifted version for export outside Africa and South America.

“For us to import the car, we needed the model to have component certification for either Japan, USA, Europe or Australia,” Collins said. “But now that the Baleno is no longer sold in any of those markets, we can no longer access the model.”

He admits that issues with Suzuki production capacity have already shifted Suzuki NZ from selling whatever customers want, to selling whatever the distributor can get its hands on.

Despite this however, Suzuki has continued to perform well here, achieving a record result last year.

“We had thought that our 2017 volume (6982 vehicles) may be hard to top – but last year we exceeded that result by 871 units,” says Collins.

So far this year Swift has continued to be Suzuki’s top vehicle, selling at an average rate of 341 units a month despite supply restrictions, especially the hybrid models. Just 333 hybrids have been sold in the past 12 months, with many currently on order already pre-sold.