Nair told Dealerfloor all Suzuki drivers are like family, but in this sale, he means it literally, as the Govenders are distant cousins. He adds the sale also shows the more things change in the world of vehicle sales, the more the importance of old fashioned relationships stays the same.

“People increasingly do their research on computers, but at the end of the day, people still buy from people they trust,” Nair said.

Titus David, Head of Customer Services and Sales at the Emond Auto Group, said the 100,000^th sale also marked Suzuki’s 100^th birthday and Emond Auto’s 3^rd year of selling the Suzuki brand alongside its Isuzu and Subaru franchises.

He said the 100,000^th Suzuki sale in SA happened between two cities – Durban and Johannesburg – which underlines Nair’s point that car sales are no longer bound by region, but by trust.

“Swift deserves this milestone”

He said the 100,000^th milestone Suzuki model sold is a Swift 1.2 GLX automatic.

“Of all our models, I think the Swift deserved this milestone most, because it is also our best seller.”

David, a car enthusiast who worked his way up to sales manager after starting an entry-level job as wash bay supervisor at Emond Auto, said all the staff who made the preceding 99,999 sales at Suzuki dealerships across South Africa, deserved praise for Suzuki’s growth during 2020.

“The growth of Suzuki’s sales, even during lockdown last year, owes as much to an excellent model range as it does to dedicated sales staff. We would not have been part of this historic milestone without their efforts,” he said.

This is very much part of the young sales manager’s philosophy that earned his team national best sales awards three years in a row, as well as national best CSI awards.

“Being a good leader is all about unrelenting focus on helping others succeed,” he told Dealerfloor.

• Suzuki broke its own sales record in February 2021, the month in which it also sold its 100,000^th vehicle. The company sold 2 142 cars in February, four months after it set its previous sales record, which incidentally was also the first time that they broke through the 2 000 barrier.