KOICHIRO HIRAO, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycles India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL)

Before taking charge as the Managing Director of Suzuki Motorcycles India, Hirao

san was the Group Manager, ASEAN Motorcycle Group, Motorcycle Operations. This position gave him enough exposure to be familiar with India-based operations and challenges. Under his leadership, Suzuki made a bold announcement the previous year, saying that they were retiring from the commuter segment and focusing on performance-oriented machinery. Over the past year, Suzuki have been true to their commitment. They were among the first to jump on the BS6 bandwagon and made the transition smoothly. Due to the coronavirus lockdown, the specifics of 2020 racing season look uncertain, which is unfortunate considering that they were going to launch a One-make Championship with the race-spec Suzuki Gixxer SF250.

In their big-capacity motorcycle range, everything except the V-Strom 650 has been temporarily discontinued. We may expect the BS6 V-Strom 650 to be launched in the near future.