Suzuki Pleased with UK Scrapping Scheme

The United Kingdom government scrappage scheme is helping most automakers selling cars in the country, including Suzuki who recorded much more deliveries compared with the apogee of the economic recession. The Japanese manufacturer said it received no less than 2,100 orders for Alto since May 18, a model that can be purchased for 5,245 pounds by people who agree to trade in their old car.

“The Alto and Splash models had already got off to a very good start in March and now registrations across the whole range are climbing steadily as customers take advantage of the attractive savings on offer. Our dealers are reporting greatly increased showroom traffic and some are experiencing a four fold increase in orders," David Seward, Director, Sales and Marketing, said.

Besides Alto, there are several other models in Suzuki's product lineup which saw its sales boosted by the government incentives. For example, Swift, Splash and Jimny received much more orders than in the pre-scrapping scheme period, Suzuki said in a release.

Getting back to Alto, the model recently made the headlines following a disappointing 3-star rating in the latest Euro NCAP crash tests, mostly due to the lack of safety features.

"In response to Euro NCAP's new rating scheme, Suzuki have decided to make electronic stability control an option on all variants of the Alto and standard on some. Sales of ESC as standard equipment are not expected to meet Euro NCAP's requirements for the full three points to be awarded but are sufficient to gain the car an additional point for this area of assessment. A driver's seatbelt reminder system is standard equipment," Euro NCAP said in the results.

However, in the United Kingdom, the car comes with four airbags, electric front windows, remote central locking and ISOFIX child seat anchorage points.