We recently posted that Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited (SMIPL) is not even half as popular as the two other Jap bike makers in the county. However, Suzuki recently launched the Hayate commuter motorcycle with a competitive price tag and wishes to change its fortunes in the country.
As per various reports, the bike maker is eyeing for an 8% market share in motor cycle segment by 2014. Vice President (Sales and Marketing) at SMIPL, Atul Gupta said “Currently, we have 2 per cent market share in motor cycle segment and we are looking at raising it to 8 per cent by year 2014.”
“The 100-110 cc motorcycle segment is a promising market with tremendous growth potential as it constitutes about 50 per cent of total country’s motor cycle market. Although it is competitive.. we are aiming to sell 10,000 units of Hayate per month,” he informed. The launch of Hayate is an opportunity to address emerging markets in small town clusters as well as semi-urban and rural peripheries,” he said.
Our regular readers will remember that we posted in detail when SMIPL had signed Salman Khan as its brand ambassador.