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Suzuki Ciaz continuously tops the list of the slowest-selling cars in the Vietnamese market. Photo: Vinh Phuc. |
Last year, Suzuki Ciaz reached sales of 55 cars, ranking third on the list of the slowest-selling cars in the Vietnamese market. Among them, the B-segment imported sedan from Thailand blanked sales in the first four months of the year, before reaching peak sales in November with only 15 units sold.
Continuously declining sales
A year ago, Suzuki Ciaz recorded sales of 326 cars at the end of 2021. However, the last month of the year saw a sharp drop in sales for this B-segment sedan as Vietnam Suzuki announced the suspension of Ciaz distribution to prepare for the launch of a new version.
This move led to Suzuki Ciaz’s sales in December 2021 being equivalent to the sales of some of the slowest-selling cars in the Vietnamese market at that time, such as Toyota Granvia, Ford Explorer, or Toyota Avanza Premio.
Even worse, the zero sales continued until the end of April 2022 and only slightly increased to 5 units after the launch of the new generation Suzuki Ciaz.
The slow start and low sales in the remaining period resulted in Suzuki Ciaz ending 2022 with sales of only 55 cars.
| Suzuki Ciaz sales in a free fall | ||||
| Suzuki Ciaz sales from 2021-2023 (Data: VAMA) | ||||
| Label | 2021 | 2022 | First four months of 2023 | |
| Suzuki Ciaz sales | cars | 326 | 55 | 11 |
As the auto market transitioned into 2023, Suzuki Ciaz still struggled to improve its sales and spent many months in the position of the slowest-selling car in the market. In the first four months of the year, Suzuki Ciaz only “gave up” this title once to the Honda Accord as the fellow model achieved only one unit sold, while the sales of the Suzuki B-segment sedan remained at 2 units, as reported in the previous period.
Therefore, despite continuous sales growth in two consecutive reporting periods, the best sales that Suzuki Ciaz has achieved in 2023 so far is only 4 units. After closing the first quarter’s report, Suzuki Ciaz achieved sales of 11 units, equivalent to a monthly sales of less than 3 units in the Vietnamese market.
Reasons
In the Vietnamese market, Suzuki Ciaz is only introduced in an automatic version by Vietnam Suzuki with a price of 535 million VND.
This is relatively high compared to the average price of B-segment sedans in Vietnam. Furthermore, the current listed price of 535 million VND for Suzuki Ciaz is also 6 million VND higher than the previous generation.
| Suzuki Ciaz has a difficult listed price to reach in the Vietnamese market | ||||||||
| Price comparison between Suzuki Ciaz and other models in the same segment | ||||||||
| Label | Suzuki Ciaz | Hyundai Accent | Honda City | Toyota Vios | Mitsubishi Attrage | Kia Soluto | Mazda2 | |
| Lowest price | million VND | 0 | 426 | 529 | 479 | 380 | 409 | 479 |
| Highest price | 535 | 542 | 599 | 592 | 490 | 489 | 619 | |
Compared to other models in the same segment, Suzuki Ciaz has a higher sale price than the G version of Honda City, slightly higher than the Special AT version of Hyundai Accent, and lower than the Standard version of Mazda2. Even with the newly launched Toyota Vios 2023, the 2 E versions of the “sales king” in 2022 are more accessible than the listed price of 535 million VND for Suzuki Ciaz.
Moreover, the aforementioned listed price of Suzuki Ciaz is comparable to neighboring segments such as A-segment SUVs or subcompact MPVs. These segments have many “strong” models on the Vietnamese auto market, such as the Mitsubishi Xpander (555-698 million VND) or the Kia Sonet (524-624 million VND).
On the other hand, the fact that Suzuki Ciaz is only available in an automatic version also limits its market accessibility in Vietnam.
Therefore, Suzuki Ciaz will have a hard time becoming an ideal choice for customers looking to buy cars for transportation services. Looking at popular names in the service car market such as the Mitsubishi Attrage, Toyota Vios, Hyundai Accent, Kia Soluto, Kia Morning, or Hyundai Grand i10, their common feature is the diversity with the availability of manual transmission versions at affordable prices.
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Suzuki Ciaz has only one automatic version available in Vietnam. Photo: Vinh Phuc. |
The powertrain is also one of the weaknesses of Suzuki Ciaz in the Vietnamese auto market. Currently, in the B-segment sedan segment, only Ciaz, along with Kia Soluto and Mitsubishi Attrage, are equipped with engines with a displacement of less than 1.5L.
Among them, only Mitsubishi Attrage achieves relatively stable sales compared to the overall market in Vietnam. Suzuki Ciaz and Kia Soluto, on the other hand, face difficulties in finding a solid position.
With the aforementioned reasons, Suzuki Ciaz has become a familiar name on the list of slowest-selling cars, as well as a relatively unfamiliar model on Vietnamese roads.
What does the future hold for Suzuki Ciaz
Facing difficulties in the Vietnamese market, Suzuki Ciaz is also not a popular model in Thailand, where the small-sized sedan is produced.
According to data published by ChinaMobil, Suzuki Ciaz sales in Thailand in 2022 reached 1,724 units, equivalent to more than 143 units per month. In 2021, this B-segment sedan also achieved sales of up to 2,505 units in the Thai auto market.
Returning to 2022, the Vietnamese auto market has witnessed several models with poor sales for many consecutive months before being officially discontinued by the manufacturers for various reasons. Some notable names in this case include Toyota Rush, Ford EcoSport, Toyota Wigo, Toyota Hilux, and Honda Brio.
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Suzuki Celerio was discontinued in Vietnam due to low sales. Photo: Chi Vu. |
It remains unclear whether Vietnam Suzuki will take a similar action for Suzuki Ciaz in the current unfavorable business situation. Previously, Suzuki Ertiga was also discontinued to make way for the hybrid engine-equipped version of the compact MPV.
In the past, Suzuki also confirmed the discontinuation of Suzuki Celerio in the Vietnamese market. The reason given was the weak competitiveness, as the sales of Celerio could not be compared to other names in the segment such as Hyundai Grand i10 or Kia Morning.
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