Suzuki beats Honda

Suzuki has outsold Honda to become Japan’s second most popular marque behind Toyota.

It’s Suzuki’s highest ranking since it started manufacturing cars in 1955 and comes after it sold 3.55 million units globally in the year to March 31, a jump of seven per cent year-on-year.

Honda had 3,371,664 sales over the same timeframe and posted its first annual financial loss since going public in 1957, while also ceding second place on the sales ladder to Suzuki.

Suzuki’s president, Toshihiro Suzuki, pictured, says: “We’re not doing things to become number two. Our mission is to build and sell cars that people will embrace.”

The company posted a six per cent increase in consolidated net profit to a record ¥439.2 billion – or about NZ$5.6b – with revenue up eight per cent to ¥6.29 trillion or about NZ$80.7b.

Suzuki has been immune to many of the big obstacles facing its Japanese rivals in the past 12 months because it doesn’t operate in China and America, the world’s two largest new-car markets.

By avoiding the US, Suzuki hasn’t suffered from US President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs, and it has avoided the EV struggles the likes of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi have had to contend with in China.

That said, Suzuki is being impacted by the war on Iran. A rise in supply-chain costs is expected to affect its profits for 2026/27.

In its home market, it’s the second-best-selling marque thanks in large part to its range of kei-class vehicles, while India is Suzuki’s largest market and it holds a share of 40 per cent there.

Suzuki plans to increase its production capacity in India by almost 50 per cent to four million units by 2030, with 500,000 this year, as it targets 2.9 million by the end of 2026.

Photo: MB-one, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons