After a cheap hatchback? Get in quick because the Suzuki Baleno is about to sell out in Australia!

If you’re after an affordable small car from a Japanese brand, then get in quick because one of the top sellers is about to disappear.

The Suzuki Baleno was discontinued in August when Suzuki Australia made the decision not to import the facelifted version of the light hatchback.

Sourced from India, the Baleno has been a huge sales success for Suzuki in Australia as a price-leading range-opener that holds appeal to first-car buyers and more.

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Priced from $18,490 before on-road costs for the GL manual, it undercuts other Suzuki models like the Swift GL manual by $2000 and the Ignis GL by $1000.

It seems the Baleno has been as popular as ever in its final months, with Suzuki Australia general manager, Michael Pachota, confirming that the final examples will be gone by the end of 2022.

“I would say that you'll probably see the last one [Baleno] in its Shadow guise leave showroom floors probably in November or December,” he said.

The Shadow pack is based on the Baleno GL auto and adds black touches like side and skirts and under spoilers, 16-inch alloy wheels and more.

Mr Pachota said he believes the regular Baleno grades - the base GL and flagship GLX - are all but sold out now, but examples of the Shadow grade, which is priced from $26,890 drive-away, are still available in limited numbers at dealers.

This is the updated Baleno that will not be coming to Australia.

The Baleno arrived in Australia in mid-2016, about 15 years after the original was discontinued.

It took a while to fire on the sales charts, but Indian sourcing allowed Suzuki Australia to position the light hatchback under the Swift in its line-up and as a sub-$20,000 offering.

It has faced fierce competition from the likes of the MG3 which is priced from $18,990 drive-away and has quickly become the best-selling light car in Australia by a large margin.

So far this year, MG has sold 11,612 examples of the 3, while the Baleno is the second best seller in the segment with 5652 sales. The Mazda2 (3685) and Kia Rio (3661) trail the Baleno and the Swift (3265) is in fifth place.

Supply of the Swift is improving.

Sales combined, Suzuki commands a 28 per cent share of the light-car segment with Baleno and Swift, but that will drop once the final Baleno rolls off the dealer lot.

Mr Pachota said supply of the Swift out of Japan is improving after years of average supply, and it could take some of the volume from the loss of Baleno, given that it’s a well-known model.

“We haven't really advertised Swift for a long time based on supply issue. So we will be recirculating that within our marketing campaigns. So we'll probably see Swift just hold its own. I think that for a car that used to sit very, very highly on the mantelpiece for the Suzuki stable, it won't be hard to regain its position again as a big share of sales now in our stable.”

Mr Pachota told CarsGuide in August the reason Suzuki Australia decided not to import the revised Baleno was because it was designed to cater to emerging markets in Asia.

“The specifications, at least for the Indian market, probably wouldn't meet the standard necessary for the Australian introduction for a new model in 2023. So that being the case, we decided to channel everything into Swift for the light segment,” he said at the time.