New Report Pegs Gixxer 250 Launch by April 2019 [Render Pics & Details]

Suzuki Gixxer 250 launch in India will give the Japs a worthy upgrade option to lakhs of Gixxer 150 owners…

Back in the days of TVS, Suzuki produced some glorious products like Shogun, Shaolin, Fiero etc but ever since its advent as a completely owned subsidiary of Suzuki Japan, it has largely remained an underdog!

They had to wait for nearly a decade to get their first hit – the Gixxer series! But let us admit that amidst this dense segment, it is surprisingly and decidedly our favourite 150 cc motorcycle at this point of time.

The question, however is, what happens to those lakhs of Gixxer 150 customers who want to upgrade to something bigger. Suzuki doesn’t have anything for these guys – the biggest prospects for the company; and these very prospects, inadvertently, look at other manufacturers for a bigger, say, 250 or a 300 cc motorcycle.

History

Rumours of a quarter litre motorcycle from Suzuki have been doing rounds for a long time now. Back in 2016, when we asked Suzuki’s top officials about it, this is what they said. And few months later, a report at Economic Times quoted a senior Suzuki official who probably gave the first official hints of the Gixxer 250. Mr Kenji Hirozawa, Vice President, Suzuki India, said that the company is aiming to launch at least one new product every year. He elaborated…

We are looking at bringing in a more premium, India-specific motorcycle based on the Gixxer which will be between 150 cc and 250 cc.

But since then things have been muted and for very clear reasons we believe the twin cylinder GSX-R250 is not a very viable motorcycle for our market.

In a recent update, Young Machine shared another speculative rendering of the Gixxer 250. They say that rather than liquid cooling, it is expected to be ‘circulation type oil cooling system‘ which we have already seen on the Pulsar 220, FZ25 etc. They further say that there could be two variants on offer – naked and faired – like it is the case with the 150cc Gixxers as well.

Gixxer 250 Launch

In a latest update BikeIndia believes that Suzuki is likely to launch the 250cc Gixxer by April next year. This is in line with what Autocar had said few months back. Suzuki India will be ready with the quarter liter motorcycle by next year. Here are some details they shared…

  • As expected, it will be a single cylinder motorcycle for our market and it may be developed specifically for India. It may get a 4-valve head.
  • Chances are that Suzuki may want to capitalise on the ‘Gixxer’ brand and hence, market name for the production 250 could be Gixxer 250!
  • A naked is expected first, followed by a faired version – similar to the strategy followed by Yamaha for FZ25 and Fazer 25.
  • It may also become the first mainstream motorcycle from the company to a get dual-channel ABS unit.

Young Machine has also shared aggressive renders of “Gixxer 250R“. It has a very aggressive face with what appears to be LED headlamps, golden coloured upside down forks, petal discs and an underbelly exhaust.

Gixxer 250 may be based on the existing Gixxer 150 platform of India, or an offshoot of something similar; which along with local manufacturing can keep costs in check.


Suzuki Auto Expo 2018
This twin cylinder GSX 250R does not look suited for our market

Considering the technical marvel the current Gixxer range is, we are hopeful of a stonker of a motorcycle from Suzuki in the 250cc segment. Let’s hope they open their cards soon…

2018 Suzuki V-Strom 650 Review

A few months back we tested Suzuki’s very interesting mid-sizer GSX-S750 and here is our review of the composed mile muncher!