At a time when two-wheeler makers are preparing to brace a single digit growth this fiscal, Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIPL) seeks to achieve a double-digit growth in volumes on the back of strong momentum for scooters.

In 2018-19, the company clocked a total volume of about 7.48 lakh units (including domestic and export sales), an increase of about 30 per cent over the previous year.

For the current fiscal, the company has set a sales target of a million units, which translates into a growth rate of about 34 per cent, which is higher than what it recorded in FY19.

Robust growth

SMIPL ended last fiscal with the highest growth among two-wheeler makers in India. The company recorded a growth of 33 per cent in domestic sales at at 668,787 units, driven by a strong growth in scooter sales, which accounted for more than 90 per cent of its two-wheeler volumes. Exports grew seven per cent at about 79,000 units in FY19.

In 2018-19, the company’s scooter volumes grew 46 per cent at 615,520 units, while the scooter industry reported a marginal decline at 6.7 million units.

While the company is struggling to grow sales in the motorcycle segment, its scooter business has been bucking the market trend due to growing customer shift to 125cc segment, where Suzuki’s models are doing well. Suzuki’s 125cc scooter Access was the third largest scooter brand in India by volumes in 2018-19, after Honda Activa and TVS Jupiter.

Premium scooters

Also, strong scooter sales helped Suzuki reach the No. 3 position in the scooter market, dislodging Hero to the fourth position in the March 2019 quarter. Suzuki sold 1.76 lakh units against Hero’s 1.54 lakh units.

While a revival in demand for 100-110cc scooter market may take a couple of quarters with the expected ease of liquidity, the premiumisation trend towards 125cc scooters is expected to continue.

In Q4 of FY19, 100-110cc scooter market fell about 23 per cent, while 125cc scooters grew at about 56 per cent and it accounted for one-fourth of the scooter market during the period.

With the favourable outlook for premium scooters, Suzuki hopes to ride the boom and is hopeful of achieving strong growth in scooters this fiscal.

“We are poised for a strong performance in FY19-20, aiming to achieve 1 million sales target. In this fiscal year, our focus is also to strengthen our dealer network and product portfolio with the addition of new premium products to our stable catering to a larger customer base,” said Devashish Handa, Vice-President, Marketing, Sales, and After Sales at SMIPL.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has projected 5-7 growth for the two-wheeler market in this fiscal. In FY19, two wheeler market grew by five per cent at about 21.2 million units.

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