Suzuki now brings Hayabusa to India

Good news for dreamy eyed sports bike fanatics. The world's fastest motorbike ever is very soon going to ply on Indian roads. Japanese auto giant Suzuki has finalised plans to the Suzuki Hayabusa (also called GSX 1300R) famously driven by actor John Abraham in Dhoom, this September. The Hayabusa holds the distinction of being the fastest in the business having hit a top speed of 397 km per hour in 2004. The vehicle in current production however, has speed limited to 299 km per hour.

The bike will kickstart the Suzuki's foray into the superbike segment in the country with the likes of Yamaha and Ducati already operating in that spcae. Suzuki will also launch a second superbike the GXR which falls in the 1000cc category, by November this year.

The Hayabusa which is powered by 1340cc in line 4 engine is likely to cost an astounding ₹11 lakh and that explains why the company does not expect big numbers. "We will launch the bike in the first week of September," said Atul gupta, vice-president, sales and marketing, Suzuki Motorcycle India. "The demand for big bikes is actually more of a hype. Cumulatively these bikes sell only about 400 units per annum and we don't expect volumes as well. Alongwith the GXR we will probably do 150 units per annum."

According to the company, besides the 105 per cent import duty, which more than doubles the retail price of these bikes, lack of infrastructure is a big deterrent for growth. "India is not the place for these bikes. We don't have the roads like they have in developed countries for them and it is not fun to ride them at say 70 km per hour," Gupta said. "We are nevertheless launching the Hayabusa because it will showcase our strength as a bike manufacturer. Moreover these are already available in the grey market so we might as well legalise them."