Suzuki Gixxer-based "more premium India-specific bike" launching soon - Report

18/03/2016 - 13:35 Suzuki Gixxer, Suzuki Motorcycles Ashwin Ram N P

Suzuki 2W expects to turn profitable this year in India.

Suzuki reveals its plan to focus more on the premium side of the Indian two wheeler industry. Kenji Hirozawa, Vice President, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. (SMIPL), said - "We have been losing money in all the 10 years that we have been operational in India. This will be the first year that we will be profitable. We have been able to achieve this primarily on the back of exports and good performance of Gixxer."

Suzuki Gixxer rear disc brake variant front quarter at Auto Expo 2016 — SMIPL anticipates to turn profitable this year expecting a revenue of INR 1,900 crores in FY2016.

Hirozawa explained that the company expects to make profit despite its domestic sales falling from 3.4 lakh units in FY15 to 3.2 lakh units in FY16. He said - "The overall sales number has fallen but the margins have increased due to higher Gixxer sales." The executive stated that the company was looking at bringing in a "more premium, India-specific motorcycle based on the Gixxer" which will be between 150cc and 250cc. It is unclear if the product in question is the rumored Gixxer 250cc.

Suzuki Gixxer rear disc brake variant at Auto Expo 2016 — Despite the annual domestic sales falling by around 20,000 units SMIPL expects to make profit as the margins have increased courtesy of higher sales of the Gixxer.

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Between April 2015 and February 2016 the Suzuki Gixxer sold close to 76,766 units in the domestic market and over 36,000 units were exported. This helped the company record more than double the export volume compared to the previous year. Hirozawa said this year the company expects to export around 60,000 units. By 2020 SMIPL targets gross sales of 1 million units of which 80 percent is domestic target and the remaining is export.

[Source: Economic Times]