Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited (SMIPL) is planning to launch the Suzuki V-Strom 650 in India. But the catch is that Suzuki is seriously considering local assembly of the bike in India, to make it affordable and competitive in the world's largest motorcycle market. A senior Suzuki official has disclosed to carandbike.com that the V-Strom 650 will be brought in from Japan as completely knocked down (CKD) units and assembled in India. However, there is still no clear timeframe on when assembly of the V-Strom 650 will eventually begin in India.
"Yes, we are considering to launch the Suzuki V-Strom 650 in India, and will be assembling the bike in India as well," the senior Suzuki official said. "It will take at least a year for us to train technicians in India, as well as develop an assembly line for the V-Strom," he added. A second Suzuki official echoed the assembly plans, but said local assembly of the Suzuki V-Strom 650 will take at least two years.
Globally, the adventure-touring motorcycle model from Suzuki has been immensely popular. In fact, the V-Strom 650 is even more popular than the litre-class V-Strom 1000, which is already on sale in India. In overseas markets, the Suzuki V-Strom 650 is available in two variants - the standard V-Strom 650 and a V-Strom 650XT. The difference is in the wheels and tyres; the standard V-Strom 650 comes with slightly lighter cast aluminium wheels shod with Bridgestone Battle Wing tyres (the same tyres doing duty on the Triumph Tiger 800), while the more off-road oriented 650XT has aluminium rims with stainless-steel wire spokes, shod with tubeless Bridgestone Battleax Adventure tyres.
The Suzuki V-Strom is powered by a 645 cc, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, v-twin engine making about 70 bhp at 8800 rpm, and 66 Nm of torque. The 90-degree v-twin engine is mated to a six-speed gearbox. The standard variant weighs 213 kg while the XT weighs 216 kg. Bot variants come with ABS and traction control. The standard variant comes with cast wheels, while the XT comes with wire spokewheels.
There's no word yet on whether Suzuki India will introduce both variants of the V-Strom 650 in India. But expect competitive pricing once local assembly begins. The India-assembled Suzuki V-Strom 650 isn't expected until 2019 though, and we expect pricing to be in the region of Rs. 6-7 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Suzuki already assembles the Hayabusa in India, and sales of the model have grown since the price of the Hayabusa was revised since CKD assembly began in India.
