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Suzuki planning premium high-capacity motorcycles for India

Written by Nizam Shaikh

Suzuki Motorcycles India (SMIPL) is looking forward to enhancing its growth in the motorcycle segment in India over the next fiscal. The brand currently sells Gixxer, Gixxer SF, Gixxer 250, Gixxer SF 250 and the Intruder(155) Cruiser motorcycle as domestic products and three Big Bikes – VStrom 650 XT, GSX-S750 and the Hayabusa in their Superbike portfolio.

But, Suzuki’s motorcycle segment only accounts for 10% of annual sales in the Indian market the rest 90% annual sales volume is through Suzuki scooter line-up which consists of only two products namely, Access 125 and the Burgman Street. 

Suzuki Motorcycles India aims to double the sales volume in the motorcycle segment to up to 20% in the next fiscal and the brand may be planning to this by introducing new premium motorcycles in its product portfolio as well as updating the existing motorcycles. Suzuki Motorcycles India at the Auto Expo 2020 unveiled the updated BS6-compliant Intruder 155cc cruiser and has already unveiled the updated Gixxer series motorcycles (Gixxer, Gixxer SF, Gixxer 250 and Gixxer SF 250) in addition to introducing new Bike Zones inside their showrooms to enhance the customer experience. 

Suzuki Motorcycles India is likely to avoid participation in the commuter segment and focus more on the 150cc and above segment. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the brand is likely to introduce an Adventure class motorcycle in the quarter-litre segment as well as expand its scooter portfolio by launching new products this year. The Big Bikes portfolio could also be updated with the Suzuki Katana that was showcased in their pavilion at the Auto Expo 2020.

Suzuki Motorcycles India currently has 540 dealerships across the country and in the next fiscal the brand plans to up this number to 600 dealerships. The company expects to close at 7.2 lakh units in this fiscal in the domestic market which is less than what it had planned at the start of the fiscal but still is 7% more compared to last year (2018-19) and aims to sell 8 lakh units in the next fiscal, which would account for a growth of 11% over 2019-20. 

Source