Suzuki's back in black plans

Suzuki has unveiled its next five-year management planned — titled 'Suzuki Next 100 — leading up to its 100th anniversary celebrations in 2020, with a plan to turn around "chronic deficits" in its motorcycle business.

As is the norm in these types of management blueprints, there is a renewed focus on a "customer-first" approach, and in the manufacturing sphere the company will strive to shorten the development period for new products.

Of the four big Japanese manufacturers, Suzuki has been the slowest to recover from the Global Financial Crisis, compounded by a lack of new models, particularly in developed markets.
Since 2008, Suzuki’s motorcycle division has recorded an annual profit just once, in 2013 — and that was a miniscule amount. To turn around its fortunes, Suzuki plans for the "development of products which clearly define characteristics of Suzuki", which translates to bikes 150cc and over and with a sporting bent.

Global sales for Suzuki were 1,760,000 units in 2014, and by 2019 it hopes to reach the two million mark, with a heavy reliance on projected growth in North America, Asia and "others". In five years, Suzuki plans annual R&D expenditure of 200 billion yen, up from 130 billion yen in 2015.

Suzuki doesn't mention specific new model targets for the motorcycle business — we're still banking on an all-new GSX-R1000 to be released at the end of this year with variable valve timing, though — but it's not so coy in the automobile division, with 20 new models to be released globally over the next five years. Even if we get half of that we'll be happy!