Suzuki GW250 Inazuma likely to be priced at over Rs 3 lakh ex-showroom

As we told you earlier, Suzuki is bringing the mini-B-King, or as we've started calling it, the Wee-King, to India in January 2014. Recent reports are now saying that January 27 is the date of the launch - though Suzuki India officials denied having any information to share on the subject beyond confirming the plan for a January launch for the motorcycle. The current rumour says the price is likely to be Rs 3.1 lakh ex-showroom and once again, Suzuki India has clearly stated that they have no further information to offer on the subject.

However, our sources indicate that this price, as stunningly high as it sounds, is likely to stick and that Suzuki are likely to price themselves out of the game with the Inazuma. We understand that the GW250 Inazuma is not an inexpensive bike by design featuring among other things, parts common with the Suzuki flagship, the Hayabusa. No kidding, it appears that these parts are identical to the point where the part numbers for the bits between the Inazuma and the Hayabusa are common. In the UK, where the bike went on sale in September 2012, the price was around the Rs 3.01 lakh mark.

On the other hand, we were expecting a lower price because the Inazuma is to be Suzuki's first CKD product for India. Given that the Inazuma is a 25PS 250cc motorcycle, we were expecting lower prices. For reference, the Honda CBR250R ABS, which makes roughly the same amount of power and is of equal displacement is priced at Rs 2.2 lakh on-road Mumbai.

However, the wrinkle in the fabric is actually the fact that the Inazuma is a parallel twin rather than a single cylinder like the CBR250R and that makes it more expensive. For reference, again, the Kawasaki Ninja 300, a parallel twin which is in CKD assembly hits almost Rs 4 lakh on-road in India. So while the Rs 3.1 lakh ex-showroom (or Rs 3.5 lakh on-road) price sounds high by the standards of the single cylinder motorcycles in the segment, it isn't an outrageous price when compared to the (only other) CKD twin on sale in India.

However, what remains to be seen is how the Indian customers react to this pricing given the fact that for far less money you can have vastly more power albeit from a single cylinder engine or spend just a little bit more and get a faired, significantly more powerful twin sports bike.