It's November and Suzuki just released its Q2 2024 financial report. If you're interested in the health of the motorcycle industry overall, the news here is strong and good, both regarding financial health and sales numbers.
How good is it? Overall, Suzuki's Q1 and Q2 of 2024 have been strong enough that the company felt compelled to adjust its forecast for the full FY2024 upward. If trends continue for the second half of the year as they've been for the first half, Suzuki forecasts a 4.5 percent increase in revenues, a 10.4 percent rise in profits, and a 4.9 percent rise in global motorcycle sales. Not too shabby, wouldn't you say?
One note here: Suzuki, like some other OEMs, records its financial data according to fiscal years that are not congruent with calendar years. Instead, Suzuki's fiscal years have a Q1 that starts on April 1 each year, and a Q4 that ends on March 31. That's why Suzuki's most recent financial report at the time of writing is its Q2 report.
Depending on where in the world you're reading this, you may be used to seeing a great many Suzuki vehicles on the road, or you may not. In the US, Suzuki pulled out of the automotive market several years ago, so we no longer get its cars and trucks here, although we do get several of its motorcycles and the odd scooter here and there. But elsewhere in the world, its automotive division is still going strong.
This is RideApart, though, so we're concerned with motorcycle sales. Since they don't exist in a vacuum, here's a look at the past few years and how motorcycle sales have been on a quarterly basis.
Like other OEMs, 2020 was a bit rough due to the usual suspects: Supply chain issues, transport issues, and the general chaos wrought by the throes of a global pandemic. However, by the end of 2020, you can see that sales definitely started to get back to what seems to be normal for Suzuki. And that overall, they've continued on an upward trajectory over the ensuing quarters.
If you'd prefer to look at the yearly motorcycle sales figures, here are those for the past four years. Since FY2024 is not yet complete, please note that we don't have that number to include in this chart just yet.
While Suzuki doesn't break the motorcycle section of its financial presentations down by model, it does something else that you may find interesting: It breaks sales down by geographic region. Notably, it includes Japan as a separate category from the rest of Asia. Also, in this case, "Other" includes all of Latin America, which is where the majority of the sales in that category occur.
Hit Play on this chart to see how Suzuki's Motorcycle Sales By Region shift over time.
Last but not least, Suzuki's reports also break down its Asian market sales numbers as well, so we can get a good glimpse at just how many bikes it sells in these markets each year. Unsurprisingly, India blows every other market in the region out of the water. In Q2 of 2024, Suzuki specifically credits strong sales of both the Access and the V-Strom 250SX with strengthening its sales in this market.
Hit Play on this chart to see how the Suzuki Motorcycle Sales Asian Markets Breakdown changes over time.
Now, Suzuki gets some criticism from moto enthusiasts for not coming out with brand-new stuff very frequently. However, it's clear from the data that more than enough riders still want to buy what they're selling, regardless.
