With the news of Suzuki Motor Corporation pulling out of the FIM World MXGP Championship and All Japan Motocross activities in 2018, we spoke with Suzuki Australia Marketing Manager Lewis Croft for some more information on Suzuki’s domestic racing plans.
It’s a shame to see Suzuki pulling out of racing in Japan and Europe, but times are changing and I imagine this is a temporary measure to reevaluate the situation – would that be fair to say?
Matt, our only information is the same as the statement from Suzuki Motor Corporation statement; they have suspended MX Racing activity in these two Championships. If you look at the biggest and most important market for RM-Z sales, America, there is the JGR Yoshimura outfit racing RM-Z450L8 and RM-Z250L8 in season 2018.
Suzuki Australia have recently announced significant contingency support for the Australian racing scene. It’s great to see Suzuki supporting racing – will anything change with the news out of Europe?The news out of Europe will have no change to our contingency program. Each distributor manages their own sales and marketing programs. Our contingency program was formulated by listening to our customers and dealers who conveyed the cost of racing is significant and our program will reward those riders who compete on a Suzuki.
Will we see the continuance of a Factory Suzuki outfit in Australia for 2018?
Suzuki is currently in negotiations with the team and sponsors and we hope to announce our plans in the near future. A lot hinges of the calendar, venues and marketing exposure for National competition in Australia. Williams Event Management has released the MX Nationals Calendar but we have no indication of the 2018 SX calendar so it’s hard for a team and distributor to plan and budget for events that don’t exist yet.
With JGR ramping up the 250 program – are we likely to see something similar in Australia?
Again we are waiting to see what interest there is from riders or teams upon the announcement of our Contingency Program
For further information on the 2018 SSR Contingency Program and the 2018 RM-Z Customer Test Ride Days, interested customers should visit:
http://www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/suzuki-support-rider
http://www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/news/2018-rm-z-ride-days
Not a lot of meat on the bone there! In Oz not having the calendar even vaguely set until half way thought the year makes for an impossible mission when it comes down to landing $ from any type of sponsor industry or out side of the industry……we have an incredible sport and high level of enthusiasts involved at the professional end…. But right now we have a small market that isn’t growing at a rate that gets the OEM’s thinking of the future and ready to invest more. We all need to make an effort to grow the sport at the base level and support the events and promoters we have now to make things stronger for the future to grow.