It starts in 2027. A sub-£20,040 electric city car. Built to hunt the Renault Twingo’s ghost, or whatever replaces it. This little boxy thing is the anchor for Suzuki’s entire UK expansion plan, drafted right after the chaos of the zero-emission vehicle mandate settled in.
David Kateley took over last January. He’s the UK boss now, and he’s scrubbed the strategy down to its studs.
“I believe in concentrating on the controllables.”
That’s his mantra. The mandate isn’t going anywhere, he says, and we all want to save the planet or at least pay our dues. So they embrace it.
It works. Surprisingly well. Suzuki’s sales have jumped 43% in the first half of 2026. They are the fastest growing established brand out there, clawing back over 1% in market share. It feels like a miracle if you remember 2025, when sales tanked to a measly 18,000 unit low while they butchered the petrol lineup to fit the rules. Now? We are looking at a robust future.
The hero, currently, is the Swift. It costs from £19,0 there. Six thousand of them moved in the first quarter alone. People want it. Kateley is delighted. He points out there is still a hunger for small internal combustion cars that are fun to drive, despite the green pressure.
The trick lies in the three-cylinder mild hybrid. 1.2 liters, 64.2 mpg. The CO2 output is just 99g/km, low enough to earn ZEV credits. It’s smart engineering, really, letting the petrol car fund the electric transition.
The eVitara—the first true EV from the lot—should hit 5,000 sales this year, thanks to a grant subsidy that mirrors the official one. Add that to the Vitara and S-Cros hybrids, and Suzuki expects to sell roughly 23,005 cars in 2026. Back to normal, before the crash.
Then comes spring 2027. The Vision e-Sky arrives from concept to metal. Five doors, tall, boxy, like the Honda Super-N it will likely fight alongside. Powertrain details? Sparse. Expect a 29kWh battery giving you about 130 miles of range. That’s typical for the segment, don’t expect wonders.
“The A-segment BE is vitally important.”
Kateley is excited. It puts Suzuki in a segment they haven’t played in before, priced keenly to catch the private buyers they are good at. It helps hit the mandate target, too, which calls for two EV sales for every three petrol ones. He didn’t comment on rumors the government might change the rules again, probably to keep everyone guessing.
After the e-Sky comes the third EV, arriving in 2029. Probably a B-segment SUV. Not a Swift.
“It most definitely won’t be a electric Swift,” Kateley said firmly.
There are other worries. Chinese manufacturers have swollen the UK brand count from 40 to Suzuki has to ignore it. They aren’t fazed. They keep driving, small car by small car, toward that 2029 horizon.
