Suzuki has been named the top performing car brand in the Institute of Customer Service’s UK Customer Satisfaction Index, published this month.

The manufacturer, which regularly tops the table in the automotive category, achieved its highest ever score in the ranking, climbing 12 places to third place overall, out of 254 companies.

Nobuo Suyama, Managing Director of Suzuki GB PLC, said: “We are very proud of our achievement to have again been recognised as the best car brand in the Index. Continuing to evolve the Suzuki customer experience has been a core focus during recent years, and the ongoing efforts have clearly paid off.

“Without the support of our nationwide dealer network, and the hundreds of people that work tirelessly for the brand to deliver exceptional standards for our customers week in, week out, we could not have delivered such a fantastic result. I would like to congratulate everyone who has played a part in this success, and it marks an even greater achievement than before”.

A national measure of sentiment across the country, the Customer Satisfaction Index asks 45,000 consumers to rate their experiences of dealing with 254 different companies across 13 sectors, including those in the motor industry. 

With an improved overall Index score of 85.9, compared to 83 in the January index, this enabled Suzuki to climb a further 12 places across all companies measured.

Suzuki ranked in first place of 24 vehicle manufacturers and is 11 places in front of the next listed Automotive brand.

In the latest Index, the Automotive industry average CSI score was 78.5 points, placing Suzuki way ahead of its direct and indirect competitors. It is the brands best-ever result since the UK Customer Satisfaction Index made its debut in 2008.

Suzuki has launched a new strategy that targets increasing its fleet sales by a third over the course of the next three years.

The plan was masterminded by Graeme Jenkins (pictured), the brand’s head of fleet, and has been more than two years in the making, since he joined the carmaker in 2017.

It requires dealers to sign up to a new Suzuki Business Partner programme, whereby they will handle incoming sales from contract hire and leasing companies but will also be responsible for generating their own local fleet sales.