Suzuki has undergone something of a transformation in recent years, withdrawing from racing at the end of the 2022 season and stopping development of its GSX-R superbike range. Now it has announced its future growth strategy and plans to move towards carbon neutrality, which involves introducing electric cars and outboard motors, as well as making its manufacturing plants greener. The plans also shine a light on what’s happening with the Hamamatsu-based company’s motorcycle production, with a statement from the company saying: “For small and mid-sized motorcycles, which are used for daily transportation such as commuting to work, school or shopping, Suzuki will introduce a battery EV in FY (financial year) 2024. It plans to launch eight models by FY2030 with a battery EV ratio of 25%.”
That makes sense as we have seen the best applications of electric power in motorcycling in more urban and smaller capacity bikes, such as the Super Soco TC Max, and Maeving RM1, while Kawasaki are also introducing its own range of small electric motorcycles this year.
For larger bikes, Suzuki has interesting plans too. The statement doesn’t go in any detail, but suggests that Suzuki is considering adopting carbon neutral fuels for large motorcycles. Given that the company has just introduced new versions of the V-Strom 1050, and brand-new models such as the V-Strom 800 and GSX-8S, it makes sense that they want to keep those petrol engines running a bit longer if they can do that with cleaner fuels.
As a global business, Suzuki has different targets in markets around the world. It aims to achieve carbon neutrality in Japan and Europe by 2050 and in India by 2070.
