IPoP Vehicle Sales - West

05/08/2019

Here's wishing our lovely customers - past, present, and future! - a magical, motivated Monday...

21/07/2019

This would be funny - and we suppose it probably is.

Except for the fact that it's unlikely to happen in a Suzuki.

The cars we sell here at are close to bulletproof.

They just don't bust or break.

And once we wave off an (invariably!) happy customer, we hardly ever seen them again.

Unless they're bringing their Suzuki in for a service.

Or buying a new one - our rate of repeat business from our much-loved customers is stellar.

Or buying another for a family member - having whole families switch to Suzuki is pretty common.

Which probably partly explains why in June this year Suzuki SA smashed its own local sales record, moving an astounding 1 479 new units.

And globally Suzuki aces it on reliability.

In the latest, prestigious `What Car' survey in the UK, for instance, Suzuki came out tops - and more than 18 000 owners were polled, taking in 159 models from 31 brands.

In case you're wondering, by the way, Tesla came in stone cold last...

So yes.

Buy one of our cars - from the cheeky Celerio upwards - and you're pretty sure to get the last laugh on everything from reliability to economy to a fun-to-drive factor.

16/07/2019

Up. Down.

Push. Pull.

Left. Right.

Watching and predicting the fuel price is always fascinating - although any sharp spikes probably count as less than fascinating for SA motorists and consumers.

All of whom are pummelled hard against the ropes.

Not least because cumulative taxes on the fuel price are 40-plus percent.

And it's in this era where value-for-money is king that our vehicles are defying economic trends by fairly flying out of the showroom.

But that's another story for another time.

So some fairly good news on the back of the huge fuel price drop earlier this month is that things are looking fairly good for August.

Going on current data - thanks to the AA - we can hopefully expect a mere seven-cents-a-litre increase in the petrol price.

And a nice 20-cents-a-litre decrease in diesel.

Why?

Well, the global oil price is slowly heading north again. Largely on the back of the US-Iran saber-rattling which could still all turn very hot indeed - in which case the price of crude would soar stratospherically.

But the real reason that things are still looking relatively rosy is that the rand is firming up - sitting at a little below R14 to the dollar at writing.

Something that our Director, Meyer Benjamin, incidentally, predicted would happen post-elections.

The last word, however, goes to the AA, that bastion of level-headed thought.

"The mid-month fuel picture is a good indicator of what's likely to happen at month end, but the current political and economic drivers of both the exchange rate and the oil price are highly fluid," notes the Association.

"We regard the current figures as merely indicative at this stage, and pragmatism suggests that the picture at month end might be substantially different from the current outlook," adds the AA.

So let's hold thumbs for at the very least a stable fuel price next month...

- James Siddall

02/04/2019

The Mazda's 787B, powered with a rotary model 26B Wankel engine, won 24 Hours Le Mans race in 1991, overcoming reliability issues in the older manufacturer c...

02/04/2019

Maruti Suzuki India sold...wait for it...1 58 076 cars last month.

So yup, it's by far and away the most popular car brand in India.

Now we don't quite match those sales here at .

But do come on in to test any one of our fuel-sipping vehicles from the award-winning Celerio through to the sassy Swift...with economy being ever-more important what with fuel prices going up (again!) tonight...

23/03/2019

21/03/2019

We never did see this sweet little Suzuki SC100 in SA, a car that made its European debut in 1979.

Back then, after all, most of us here in SA possibly didn't realise that there was more to the marque than motorcycles.

But 40 years later, the line "It's fun, it's stylish, it's different" applies to pretty much every car we sell here at .

21/03/2019

Hitch your wagon!

Did you know that over in the US there was a wagon or estate version of the Mazda GLC (Great Little Car as the 323 was known on the American market)?

And the GLC (or 323) was an even bigger success Stateside than it was in Mzansi.

Which is saying quite something as the 323 was a huge hit when it first arrived on SA shores back in 1977.

The modern Mazdas we sell here at are a massive leap over that 323 of yore. Massive.

Especially as the Mazda marque is now decidedly premium, poised, upmarket and, well, awesome.

But one thing hasn't changed: from the Mazda2 upwards, all our cars are as robust as that old 323 was...

19/03/2019

Mazda's cool new CX-30 crossover slots nicely between the CX-3 and the CX-5.

So you - and us here at - might have asked why it wasn't just called a CX-4?

Well, apparently the CX-4 name is already used in Japan, while it's hinted that the CX-30 may spawn a whole new range of model nomenclature.

But either way expect to see this magical new Mazda in Mzansi in the first quarter of 2020.

Watch this space.

18/03/2019

15/03/2019

Brace yourselves – fuel prices are set to spike (again!) come early April.

By around 98 cents a litre for petrol, 70 cents for diesel, 63 cents for illuminating paraffin.

And as always it’s the poor who’ll suffer the most with the knock-on effect of these hikes, fresh off substantial price increases earlier this month.

“It’s scary,” says Meyer Benjamin, Director of this dealership.

“Especially now that taxes make up close to 40 percent of the fuel price.”

Indeed.

Scarier still is that next month the new fuel levies tabled in the budget earlier this year kick in.

“With the addition of the increases to the levies, our outlook for April sees petrol increasing by R1.18 a litre, and diesel by 90 cents a litre. There are no levies added to illuminating paraffin,” explains the Automobile Association.

The exact price increases are still to be confirmed, coming as they do from unaudited mid-month fuel price data released by the Central Energy Fund (CEF).

But these figures are generally an accurate indicator, and besides those extra levies kicking in, much of these increases are down to a slightly weaker rand and – to a larger degree – higher international oil prices.

“More than ever,” adds Meyer, “economy is now a crucial factor when consumers come to buying a car.”

That’s where our Suzukis come in – with most of them sipping five or less litres of petrol per 100km in the combined cycle, with no trade off in sassiness, style, safety.

The AA, meanwhile, says this will push the proportion of taxes and levies on the fuel price to around 38% of the cost per litre in the case of 93 unleaded petrol.

“When fuel taxes were proposed as a roads funding mechanism, the government resisted, claiming they were anti-poor,” says the AA.

“But the fuel levy has nonetheless risen by nearly 22% over the past three years. Given what is emerging at the Zondo Commission of Enquiry, motorists are justified in asking what this money is being spent on.”

What indeed.

- James Siddall