Suzuki sets the example during Transport Month

In October's Transport Month, Suzuki Auto South Africa empowered small businesses by offering test units of its affordable Eeco Van, designed for efficient goods transport. Additionally, Suzuki partnered with FleetMax Africa to launch DriveSMART, a road safety campaign delivering 130+ educational videos to young drivers via social media. These initiatives reflect Suzuki’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and promoting safer roads in South Africa.

October is Transport Month in South Africa and a time for us to focus on how important a role the sector plays in shaping our country’s economy – and what we can do to improve it. Afterall, a safe and efficient national transport system is crucial to our modern way of life as it allows the population access to jobs, schools, universities, healthcare facilities and shops.

Helping empower people reliant on everyday road infrastructure to earn a living, Suzuki Auto South Africa is excited to offer two affordable workhorse vehicles aimed at mobilising small businesses and entrepreneurs. Starting at R187,900, the versatile Suzuki Super Carry sports a 750kg load capacity and widest-in-class load box. Last year, this well-proven pickup was joined by the Suzuki Eeco Van: another compact commercial vehicle powered by a similarly robust 1.2l four-cylinder petrol engine and offering a secure cargo bay big enough to swallow a full-sized South African pallet. Access is provided via a large roof-to-bumper rear door that opens upwards and two side sliding doors that can be operated independently.

“Since its launch in 2023 the Eeco has been very well received by our customers. Similar to the Super Carry, it offers fuel-efficient point-to-point transport of goods at the lowest possible price,” says Brendon Carpenter, Brand Marketing Manager of Suzuki Auto South Africa.

To give local movers and shakers a taste of what the R219,900 Eeco Van has to offer, Suzuki Auto South Africa recently undertook to deliver test units to a number of pre-selected small businesses from around the country. Theirs to use for three months, this forward thinking initiative allows them to fully evaluate the Eeco Van’s capabilities out in the field.

“We want our entrepreneurs to drive the Eeco; to see how much they can cram into the cargo bay and experience for themselves just how economical it is to run,” says Carpenter.

Another topic very much under the national spotlight during Transport Month is road safety.

More than 14,000 people perish on our country’s roads every year. Put this statistic under the microscope and you’ll discover a disproportionate amount of these fatalities are from the vulnerable road user group (17 to 29 years of age). As a countermeasure, Suzuki Auto South Africa has collaborated with local transport consortium FleetMax Africa to develop a unique and localised road-safety curriculum accessible to anybody with a smartphone.

Launched in August 2024, DriveSMART with Suzuki is curating a selection of road safety videos covering more than 132 topics including defensive driving, law enforcement and vehicle maintenance. To make them relevant and easily accessible to a younger audience, these clips are produced for flighting on popular social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tik-Tok and WhatsApp. This approach also ensures a long shelf life.

“FleetMax Africa identified a niche in the vulnerable, novice driver group,” explains Ashref Ismail, CEO of FleetMax Africa. “With Suzuki Auto South Africa being one of the best-selling motor manufacturers in the country, their target audience dovetailed into our corporate social responsibility target audience of mostly first time/entry-level buyers of new and used cars.”

“Through this dynamic partnership, Suzuki Auto South Africa and FleetMax Africa aim to expose South Africa’s youth and novice drivers to quality, interactive road safety training that will hopefully lead to a meaningful reduction in our country's worrying accident statistics.”

Whether getting people on to the road or helping them stay safe whilst navigating it, Suzuki Auto South Africa is doing its bit to make a difference during Transport Month and beyond.

Love our blog and want more? Subscribe and get our latest articles delivered to your inbox.