Suzuki Intruder discontinued in India after prolonged low sales, the cruiser has ended its less than half-a-decade stint
In a short time period of less than 5 years, Suzuki Intruder 150 has been officially discontinued in India. The Japanese maker has also removed the lone cruiser from its Indian website.
The Intruder 150 was launched back in November, 2017, when the demand for cruisers were all-time high in India. For example, the Royal Enfield Classic 350 was selling a close to a humongous 60,000 units every single month.
Every manufacturer had an eye on the Classic 350’s sales. When Bajaj brought the Dominar 400 a little earlier in December, 2016, the company directly pitted its new 400 against the top-selling Royal Enfield even ridiculing the Classic 350 has Haathi in ads.
As the bigger M1800 Intruder was already on sale in India, Suzuki believed that the baby Intruder would ride on the back of its bigger brother. The M1800 has a great fan following across the globe for its huge V-twin engine, super long wheelbase, fat tires, and shaft drive.
As Suzuki expected, the Intruder 150 did pickup in sales gradually month-on-month. During the launch month itself, the cruiser bagged 2325-unit sales and there was no stopping it. By February 2018, the cruiser recorded the maximum monthly sales of its life at 4895 units.
During early 2018, all the Suzuki showrooms were abuzz with the Intruder test rides. But, by May, 2018, the sales began to decline due to lack of marketing.
In fact, post the launch, the brand never campaigned for the cruiser. During the bike’s hey days, the company didn’t organise promotional events.
Cruiser manufacturers like Royal Enfield usually conduct group rides. Even those initiatives were not effectively seen from Suzuki’s side.
From the later part of 2018, the sales began to slip below the 4-digit mark. Though the manufacturer woke up in 2019 with a facelift, the damage has already been done.
The cruiser posted dismissal sales throughout the pandemic and continued to get featured in our least-selling list. And now its has been altogether discontinued.
While the drawbacks of the Intruder have been discussed many a times, let’s discuss some of its positives to bid adieu to the cruiser. At around Rs. 1 lakh (ex-showroom), it was as performance oriented as the Royal Enfield 350s with a top speed of up to 120 km/hr.
Powered by the Gixxer’s same engine, it offered great refinement which was absent on both the Royal Enfields and Bajaj Avengers especially when cruising between 80 to 100 km/hr. The forward-set footpegs and raised handle further upped the comfort quotient.
Suzuki was 1 of the first manufacturers at that time to offer single-channel ABS as standard fitment and the Intruder had the same right out of the assembly line. The cruiser’s greatest highlight was the nice-looking optional rear backrest.
In addition to poor marketing, the Intruder mainly lost sales due to the overdone plastics on the Gixxer’s platform. If Suzuki had brought the Marauder’s platform, too much plastics could have been avoided to bring about the looks of the original M1800.