Motorcycle News
Suzuki Motor Corporation recently reported that world-wide sales of their first quarter increased by ¥79.2 billion to ¥656.3 billion or approximately $7.6B USD (+113.7% year-on-year) due to the increased sales of automobiles in Japan and the increased sales of motorcycles and automobiles in Asia.
Motorcycle sales in North America and Europe for the same period of the previous fiscal year were the areas that have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn.
Specifically, Suzuki has further reported that sales in the motorcycle segment saw an overall 115.7% year on year increase (ATV included) to 820,000 units, while profits decreased year-on-year by ¥11.1 billion to ¥69.8 billion or approximately $809M USD due to the sales decline in North America, Europe and Japan.
The sales increases of the lower priced bikes in Asia were not enough to offset the decreases in the other regions.
As for profits, operating losses were reduced by ¥1.1 billion year-on-year because of operating results improvements in Asia, but it was still ¥1.8 billion or approximately $20B due to the continued sales slowdown of large motorcycles for Europe and the USA.
Suzuki also moved to reorganize their Thai motorcycle operations. The consolidation of motorcycle production and sales in Thailand was made to capitalize on the growing market within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Suzuki motorcycles were previously produced by Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, and sold by a dealer network through two Thai-owned distributors.
As part of the reorganization, the Thai-owned distributor S.P. Suzuki Public Co., Ltd. responsible for the 62 of Thailand’s 76 provinces has agreed to sell all the shares of Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. (42.38%) to Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. will directly market motorcycles through its existing dealers, thereby bringing together its production and marketing operations.
