Suzuki scooter? Wait for 60-90 days!

The cluttered two-wheeler market's newest entrant, Suzuki Motorcycles India, on Tuesday said it is witnessing good demand in the scooters segment, which has resulted in a 60-90 day waiting period for its models.

"We have a 60-90-day backlog for our scooters and it will take one year to clear the backlog. The backlog will continue for at least one year due to a good demand for our products in the market," SMIPL senior manager (Sales and Marketing) Anand Singh Thakur said.

The company is scaling up its production to clear the waiting period, he said. Thakur, however, did not reveal the quantum of backlog. Presently, SMIPL has a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum in both the scooter and motorcycle segments.

"We will more than double our production capacity to 5.4 lakh units from the present 2.5 lakh units by 2012," he said, adding that the company has so far invested around Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) this year.

"We will invest another Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) to expand our capacity," Thakur said. SMIPL currently sells both scooters and motorcycles, including models such as the Access 125, Suzuki GS150 R, GSX-R 1000, Bandit 1250S and Hayabusa.

The company also launched a new 125cc motorcycle -- SlingShot -- priced at Rs 46,253 (ex- showroom Mumbai).

Image: (L to R) Anand Thakur, head of sales, India and Vipul Goel, head of services, Suzuki Motorcycles with all new Suzuki SlingShot.