Two-wheelers manufacturer Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIPL) said the company will spend Rs 120 crore this year on advertising and marketing of its products compared with Rs 100 crore last year.

The company generated a turnover of Rs 1,200 crore last year and aims to achieve Rs 1,500 crore this year.

“We have been spending 6-8 per cent of the total turnover every year on marketing campaigns and this year also, we will spend 8 per cent of the targeted turnover of Rs 1,500 crore,” Atul Gupta, Executive Vice-President, SMIPL, told Business Line .

Last week the company came out with a new ad campaign for its bestselling motorcycle – Hayate. The campaign started in the south, and will soon be taken across the country. It is focused towards reinforcing the company’s strengths in the south as this part of the country is biggest in terms of its sales, he said.

Sales in south

The south contributes to 40 per cent of Suzuki’s scooter share and 25 per cent to its motorcycle share, he said, adding that the company intends to increase its market share by 5 per cent in each segment.

He said the mass market motorcycle segment (100-110 cc) contributes a chunk of overall two-wheeler sales in Tamil Nadu (43 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (44 per cent), Karnataka (45 per cent) and Kerala (45 per cent).

Suzuki is geared to target a larger share of the pie with Hayate, which is a bestselling entry level motorcycle catering to the 110 cc mass market segment, he said.

“Currently, our focus lies in driving this product in the market. After the south, the west accounts for the largest sales for Suzuki two-wheelers,” he said.

Apart from increasing its spends on marketing campaigns, the company will also expand its dealer network, which would double by end of this year from 300 right now.

The company has also increased its manufacturing capacity for two-wheelers to 5.6 lakh units annually at its Gurgaon factory, compared with 4.5 lakh units last year.

The company, which manufactures both scooters (Access 125 and Swish 125) and motorcycles (GS150R, Hayate and Slingshot Plus), sold 4.2 lakh units of two-wheelers last year and has already sold 1 lakh units in the first quarter this year.

The company also sells completely built units of superbikes such as GSX-R1000, Hayabusa and Intruder from Suzuki’s global stable.

Dip in industry

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the two-wheelers industry witnessed a drop by around 5 per cent to 11.16 lakh units in June compared with 11.69 lakh units in the corresponding month last year.

While scooter sales were up 15 per cent, motorcycle sales declined by 9 per cent in June compared with the same month last year.

ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in

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