Market reports – First half of 2015: Suzuki’s market report – Used SUZUKI

First half of 2015: Suzuki’s market report

Market reports - First half of 2015: Suzuki's market report - Used SUZUKI

Suzuki has just completed the first half of 2015 with a decrease of -7.1% and has a total of 5,837 registrations. The sales director of the Japanese brand’s motorcycle activity, Guillaume Vuillardot, gives his impressions to MNC readers. First assessment.

Site: After six years of constant decline, the French motorcycle market returned to growth in 2014 with + 2.5% (read our). In the first half of 2015, the increase was limited to + 0.8% (read our). Should we be worried ?
Guillaume Vuillardot, sales director of the Suzuki France motorcycle activity:
At the end of June, we expect the market to grow very slightly year-to-date. This is certainly not extraordinary, but let’s look at it on the bright side: after several years of decline, the market overall is stabilizing. It should also be noted that the main European markets are recovering (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain) and sometimes significantly. I want to believe in an improvement in our market in the coming months. All manufacturers make significant efforts in terms of new products, promotions, events and hospitality to win over and satisfy customers. Our market is changing dramatically, whether it is the profile of customers, their expectations or their ways of buying. We need to adapt faster.

MNC: Regarding Suzuki, what is your assessment of your first six months of 2015? ?
G. V .:
In addition, the very good reception of our novelties or evolutions of models. The GSX-S1000, GSX-S1000F, V-Strom 650XT, Bandit 1250SA, Address, GSX-R1000 ABS and SV650S all successfully entered the market with volumes that exceeded our expectations or pre-orders exceeded our expectations. Also, the second consecutive victory for our GSX-R1000 and the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in front of numerous, sharp and efficient competition. For the 30 years of the GSX-R, it is a very nice gift !

In the least, our factories did not have the capacity to supply us with the quantities ordered or certain motorcycles were behind schedule. We are out of step with almost all of our new products. The direct consequence is that we did not manage to keep our volumes over the first five months of the year. Since the beginning of June, things have been improving and our delivery capacity has improved. But that is not enough. The "novelty" impact will be better felt in the second part of the year.

MNC: For you, what is the highlight of this first half of the year? ?
G. V .:
The successful return of Suzuki to Moto GP with a machine that is very well born, riders and a team at the top and working in the right direction. Suzuki returns to the forefront even though there is still a lot of work to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.

MNC: How is your second semester going? ?
G. V .:
Better than the first! Indeed, our novelties will finally arrive in quantity. We therefore expect the brand to perform better from June. We are also celebrating the anniversary of the legendary GSX-R on July 13! Sportsmen or not, Suzukists or not yet, come in large numbers on the Le Mans circuit! Taxi, concert, dinner, all the legendary GSX-Rs and a surprise…

MNC: Finally, the government has still not settled the question of the "retrofit" (read). How much does this lack of response impact your business ?
G. V .:
The recent conclusions disseminated by CSIAM and representatives of motorcycle professionals are also those of Suzuki. To date, the limited power and impacted Suzuki represent 7% of our annual sales volume. But we must not forget the rolling stock. We are therefore now awaiting the official position of the government.

Interview by Matthieu BRETILLE

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