Tvs-Suzuki To Launch 4-Stroke Scooters Next Year

TVS-Suzuki, a leading manufacturer of motorbikes and mopeds, has decided to enter the scooter segment and will introduce the vehicle in April next year, managing director Venu Srinivasan announced in New Delhi yesterday.

The venture will have no technology support from Suzuki, the Japanese auto company that has a 26 per cent stake in TVS-Suzuki.

The indigenously designed 4-stroke scooter, powered by a 125 cc or 150 cc engine, will be available in four models, Srinivasan said.

The scooters will be manufactured at the company's manufacturing facility coming up in Mysore.

The managing director said TVS-Suzuki had decided to enter the scooter segment as it had not been able to corner a significant share of the north Indian market, although it had a sizeable presence in south India. The company has a 28 per cent share of the overall two-wheeler market in the country.

 

We are doing extremely well in south India with our motorbikes and mopeds, but were unable to make any dent in the north, where the scooter market is dominated by Bajaj Auto and LML (manufacturer of Vespa brand of scooters), Srinivasan said.

The price and name of the product, code-named ST-70, has not yet been decided.

An investment of around Rs 150 crore has been earmarked for the project. We intend to manufacture 60,000 vehicles in the first year and reach a production level of 250,000 vehicles in five years, Srinivasan said.

The company announced that it would also launch new 140-cc versions of