Suzuki Motorcycle India Ltd (SMIL), the Indian two-wheeler arm of Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor Corporation, has pinned high hopes on scooter sales in Gujarat.
With the newly launched LET’s scooter, the company expects its market share in the State to jump to 20 per cent in the current fiscal from 14 per cent at present.
Currently, the company sells around 4,500 unit scooters every month in the State, which has a market size of about 31,000-32,000 units per month.
“About 17 per cent of our total sales come from Gujarat. We plan to sell about 10,000 units of the LET’s in the State. Nationally, we will sell about 100,000 units during this fiscal,” said Kenji Hirozawa, Vice-President, strategic planning, sales and marketing, SMIL, at the launch of the LET’s in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
As part of its retail expansion and increasing its presence in the State, SMIL will add 30 dealerships in Gujarat during the fiscal, taking the total to close to 100 by the year-end.
Nationally, the company holds about 8 per cent market share in the market with a total capacity of 4 million scooters per annum.
“We are strong in the scooters segment as motorcycle sales are more in the rural areas where we are weak at present. But we will increase our focus on scooters and increase sales by launching a few more models by the year-end,” said Hirozawa.
Currently, the company produces about 3,60,000 units annually from its Gurgaon plant in north India against the installed capacity of 5,40,000 units per annum. “We heavily depend on this new model to increase our sales and thereby our production. By the year-end, our production is expected to reach 500,000 units,” he said.
SMIL also plans to double its exports, mostly motorcycles, from the current 10,000 to 20,000 by the end of this fiscal. The major export destinations are Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Latin American nations and West Asia.
The company launched the Let’s scooter in the 110 cc category with a price tag of Rs 46,223 (ex showroom Ahmedabad). The scooter is expected to deliver 63 km per litre under standard testing condition.