Suzuki general manager departs

One of the longest serving motorcycle head honchos in Australia, Perry Morison, has departed as general manager of Suzuki Australia.

Morison’s last day with the Laverton (Vic)-based company was on Friday, February 28, with an internal Suzuki announcement stating that he had left “based on mutual agreement between the two parties”.

After a stint at Honda Australia, Morison became marketing manager at Suzuki in 1997, and not long after that assumed the role of general manager, a position he has held for about 16 years.

Morison played a key role in Suzuki shifting its Aussie headquarters from Sydney to Laverton in 1998, and once that logistical headache was successfully implemented he really knuckled down to growing the Suzuki brand locally, with the GSX-R range of sportsbikes always at the forefront of the company’s marketing spend.

Morison has always been a huge supporter of domestic motorcycle competition, with the teams run by Phil Tainton (road racing) and Jay Foreman (motocross) winning multiple national championships  over the last 15 years. In 2013, Wayne Maxwell rode a GSX-R1000 to victory in the Australian Superbike Championship, and other big names who have ridden under the Suzuki road racing banner include Troy Bayliss, Shawn Giles, Josh Waters, Craig Coxhell, Robbie Bugden and Troy Herfoss.

As well as being a champion of racing, Morison actively engaged in big issues at the policy level with organisations like the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. He was one of the key drivers behind the creation of the much lauded Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme.

With Morison no longer employed by Suzuki, the executive team will comprise interim general manager Nao Horikoshi, Paul Vandenberg as National Sales and Dealer Development Manager, and Lewis Croft as the National Marketing Manager.