Suzuki India MD, Satoshi Uchida, revealed in October 2017 that the company would shift its focus to the premium business with fresh and exciting products every year. Soon after, the company revealed the first of its new line of premium offerings, the Intruder 150. Now, we expect that the company will show off at least two new products for the Indian market, with one of them being a scooter.
New Scooter
Details on this new scooter are sparse, but it is believed that it could be a 150cc unit. Given that Suzuki’s line-up already has the 110cc Let’s scooter and the well-established 125cc Access, which is currently the brand’s top seller, a 150cc scooter would fit well in the brand’s portfolio. Our sources tell us that the new product will be exciting and quite different from what we’ve seen so far. The current 150cc scooter segment in India is slim, with the only players coming from the Piaggio group in the form of the 150cc scooters from Vespa and the Aprilia SR150.
New CKD motorcycle
Suzuki will also be launching a new CKD motorcycle at the Auto Expo2018. It is likely that this bike will be Suzuki’s first sub-1,000cc offering in India, and it could be either the V-Strom 650 adventure bike or the GSX-S750 naked sports bike. The V-Strom 650 uses a 645cc V-twin motor that produces 71hp while the GSX-S750 gets a powerful 749cc inline-four-cylinder engine that produces 114hp. In terms of pricing, the V-Strom may be priced slightly higher than the Kawasaki Versys 650. But if it’s the Suzuki GSX-S750 that’s launching, it could be priced on-par or may even undercut Kawasaki’s well-priced Z900, while offering similar performance. The Suzuki also offers traction control, which the Kawasaki Z900 misses out on.
Also see:
Hero to showcase new 125cc scooter, XPulse concept at Auto Expo 2018
Kawasaki to showcase Ninja 400, ZX-10R SE at Auto Expo 2018