Suzuki Motorcycle India looks to double exports in FY2014-15

Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIL), one of the top four scooter manufacturing OEMs in the domestic market, plans to double its exports for the ongoing fiscal year. The company, which began actively focusing on exports last year, recorded cumulative shipments of 10,032 units in 2013-14. Now in a bid to step up its scale, SMIL plans to export 20,000 units to its existing export markets in 2014-15.

Speaking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the regional launch of its all-new 110cc Let’s automatic scooter in Pune today, Atul Gupta, executive vice-president, SMIL, said: “This financial year, we will double our exports to neighbouring countries and some Latin American markets including Columbia and Ecuador. Our focus is on addressing the demand which already exists in these markets.”

Currently, the company’s export portfolio from India includes all the products manufactured at its Gurgaon plant. This will now expand to the Let’s scooter and possibly the new products slated for commercial launch later this year –  the 150cc Gixxer motorcycle (rollout planned for August 2014) and an updated variant of the Hayate commuter motorcycle, which is expected to roll out around the festival season.

The Indian subsidiary of the Japanese two-wheeler giant Suzuki Motor Corporation sold a total of 356,319 units in the domestic market in 2013-14 and produced 360,457 units, both numbers marking negative growth of nearly 14 percent year-on-year, as per SIAM industry data.

SMIL’s Gurgaon plant, which has an annual production capacity of 540,000 units, is expected to produce nearly 500,000 units this fiscal. The company’s sales target of 500,000 units (including exports) will include sales of nearly 100,000 Let’s scooters.

Gupta said, “We are confident that we will be able to sell 100,000 units of our new 110cc scooter this fiscal.” It is to be noted that Suzuki Motorcycle’s rival in the fast-growing scooter market, Yamaha Motor India aims to sell 200,000 units of its 113cc scooter Alpha during the year. Yamaha, which is fast gaining ground in the scooter segment, had launched the Alpha at the Auto Expo in February.

Interestingly, Yamaha has nearly 1,200 touch-points across India which includes dealerships, sub-dealers and service centres. SMIL, on the other hand, has a network of only 600 dealers currently, which it plans to ramp up by another 400 dealers within this fiscal. “Our scooters are selling because we are present in the major urban areas. However, our motorcycle segment is currently weak because we are largely absent in the rural pockets, which are big markets. Hence, our priority is to aggressively expand our dealership base this year,” explained Gupta.

While south India is the strongest scooter market for SMIL followed by the western region, north India stands as the largest market for its bikes. Bangalore, Kochi and Pune, in that order, are the top three cities in terms of overall city-specific sales for SMIL.

Photograph: Kenji Hirozawa, vice-president, SMIL, and Atul Gupta, EVP, at the launch of the Let’s in Pune.