Bike Alliance Splits

Newcastle Herald

Saturday June 25, 2005

GR

BACK in August 2001 Japanese motorcycle manufacturers Suzuki and Kawasaki announced an alliance designed to help both manufacturers share model development and parts while going their separate ways on the showroom floor.

Things are not all roses in motorcycle land though and Suzuki has now announced plans to progress to "a new stage" and discontinue the sale of most of the shared product after evaluating profitability, sales volumes, customer reactions, brand images and the competitiveness of the models.

For Australia this means that only Suzuki's Kawasaki-developed RM-Z250 will stay in dealerships with plans to produce it as a 2006 model.

Suzuki says that discontinuing the shared lines will give it a chance to develop its own product although the alliance between the two will remain while Suzuki continues to review the relationship.

One plan is for direct product exchange to be dropped, replaced with an "indirect exchange of resources" allowing both companies to retain brand identity.

© 2005 Newcastle Herald

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