With the launch of Hayate in the South, Suzuki Motorcycle India hopes to garner at least a five per cent share of the 100-110 cc motorcycle segment in the country in the next one year.
South accounts for 35 per cent of the company's total sales and is its biggest market.
The six-million-unit segment is a promising market with tremendous growth potential, said Mr Anand Singh Thakur, Suzuki's National Sales Head. Currently, more than 80 per cent of the company's sales come from scooters, with the balance from motorcycles. It intends to increase the contribution from the motorcycles segment in the coming years. According to Mr Thakur, the company's manufacturing facility coming up at Rohtak, Haryana, is expected to go on stream from 2014. The facility will have a capacity to produce five lakh units a year. Besides, the company is currently expanding its existing facility at Gurgaon to produce 4.5 lakh units next year and 5.4 lakh units by 2014 from the current 3.6 lakh units.
At full capacity, Suzuki Motorcycle India will roll out more than a million units a year from 2014. To a question on the proposed investment in expansion, Mr Thakur said at present, there is no clear idea. The company has so far invested Rs 500 crore in India, he added.