Demand for sports bikes high in Hyderabad: Suzuki

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is a big ma­r­ket for sports motorcycle whe­r­ein the city stands within the top 10 overall motorcycle market in India, said Suzuki Motorcycle India.

The two-wheeler maker said Telangana contributes 3.5 per cent of its two-wheeler sales including motorcycles and scooters, whereas Hyderabad alone holds a share of 2.6 per cent.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Gixxer SF 250 and Gixxer SF in the city on Monday, Devashish Handa, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, SMIPL said, "Our distribution network is comparatively stronger in South and West India, due to which cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai are core markets for our motorcycles and scooters."

Further, he informed that with the two new Gixxer launches, the company expects an increase in sales, with Telangana contributing to five per cent. At present, Suzuki Motorcycle India has 20 dealer networks in TS and seven premium outlets in Hyderabad.

Moreover, SMIPL is strongly marching towards one million sales within this financial year. Koichiro Hirao, Company Head, Suzuki Motorcycle India, said: "We had closed last financial year with total sales of about 7.5 lakh units, including 6.7 lakh units in the domestic market and the rest through exports.

This year we are looking to achieve total sales of about 8.6 lakh in the domestic market and along with it about 1.1 lakh from exports. Total sales volume will be closer to one million mark."

The company's manufacturing facility spread across 27 acres in Gurgaon has a capacity of one million units per annum. While achieving the sales mark, Suzuki foresees the problem of capacity constraint.

In this regard, it has initiated a feasibility study for setting up a second Greenfield plant in India, apart from adding fresh capacity at the existing site.

While Gixxer SF 250 is priced Rs 1,70,655 (ex-showroom across India), the Gixxer SF is being offered at Rs 1,09,870 (ex-showroom Hyderabad).