Suzuki Motorcycle India’s Managing Director, Satoshi Uchida, has revealed several details about the company’s product strategy during a recent interview with Moneycontrol. Uchida confirmed in the interview that the Indian arm of the Japanese two-wheeler brand will introduce a new quarter-litre product that will be followed by bigger capacity motorcycles in our market.
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In the same interview, Uchida also dropped hints about higher displacement scooters for the Indian market. Uchida confirmed that Suzuki Motorcycle India will introduce new scooters in the 150+ segment. Below is what he told the website:
We are going to add more premium scooters. In future, we have to look at 150cc+ segment. We are studying the development of more than 150cc scooters. We will see how it works on the Burgman Street and then may use it for another model.
Regular readers would remember that a Burgman 180 is said to be under development. A report from August this year claimed that the new Burgman 180 will be developed by Suzuki Motor Japan before it is rolled out in the target markets. The same report added that the new Burgman 180 will draw styling cues from the Burgman 400.
The 180 cc engine will most definitely arrive in a single-cylinder, air-cooled layout to keep the costs low. The new motor will adhere to the latest emission norms, and thus pack a fuel injection system as standard. Given the Government of India’s aggressive plans of mass electrification of two-wheelers under the 150 cc displacement, the Suzuki Burgman 180 will be a perfect fit for our market.
The Burgman 180, when launched, will retain most of the features from the existing Burgman Street (125). Thus, expect the new scooter to pack full LED headlight, digital instrument console, large under-seat storage and a glovebox at the front. Braking and suspension setup, too, should be identical to the Burgman Street (125). Thus, expect the braking hardware to comprise a disc brake at the front. It will be interesting to see if Suzuki offers a read disc brake as an optional extra. The anchoring setup will be governed by ABS. Shock absorption duties will be handled by conventional telescopic forks at the front and a single-sided spring at the back.
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Apart from the bigger Burgman, we may see another 125 cc scooter join Suzuki Motorcycle India’s portfolio. Moneycontrol adds that the Indian arm of the Japanese two-wheeler brand may add a new 125 cc scooter in 2021. The decision to expand the 125 cc scooter portfolio is reportedly encouraged by the Suzuki Access 125’s sales performance in our market. Regular followers of the industry would remember that Suzuki recently replaced Hero MotoCorp as the third-highest scooter seller in India.
[Source: Moneycontrol.com]
