Suzuki Inazuma launch on January 27

When Kawasaki and Honda brought in their 250cc offerings to our shores it was speculated that Suzuki would follow suit and launch the Inazuma (also called GW250) soon. Sadly though, that wasn’t the case with the Inazuma as its launch was side-lined by Suzuki and one even questioned whether it would ever bring in a 250cc offering for our country.  But all these speculations were put to rest when Salman Khan, who is Suzuki’s brand ambassador for India, was spotted riding the GW250 during the shoot of his up-coming movie Jai Ho. Now news has come in that Suzuki is all set to launch the Inazuma on January 27 with few of the bikes even hitting showrooms for display. Powering the Suzuki Inazuma is a 248cc, liquid-cooled, parallel-twin mill pumping out 26.3PS of power and 24.4 Nm of torque, mated to a 6-speed gearbox. The Inazuma employs semi double-cradle chassis, and features telescopic forks at the front and seven-way adjustable mono- at the rear. Other notable feature includes LCD display speedometer and the three-spoke aluminium alloys. Suzuki has provided disc brakes at both front and rear but have skipped ABS.

The bike borrows its design language from the humungous 1,300cc B-King naked bike (though this one weighs just 183kg) and would have been an affable naked option for a buyer in the market for a decently powered streetbike. But it seems Suzuki has hit a wall with the Inazuma as reports suggest that it will be priced at a staggering Rs 3.14 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Suzuki has priced the bike so extremely even after it entering our market via the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) route and one might be wondering why have they priced it so highly? One of the key reasons for it being priced exorbitantly is the fact that it is powered by a twin-cylinder unlike Honda’s CBR 250R, which although has the same displacement but is a single-cylinder unit thereby reducing costs considerably. In fact, this single-cylinder approach by KTM has enabled them to price their larger capacity offering like the 390 Duke so competitively. The closest reference to the Inazuma’s pricing is the Kawasaki Ninja 300, which has also been brought via the CKD route yet it carries a sticker price of close to Rs 3.5 lakh and also houses a twin-cylinder powerplant. The aspect that works in favour of the Inazuma is that it exudes a big-bike aura and would please buyers who adore muscular and bulky streetbikes.

Also the Inazuma has a very upright and ergonomically comfortable riding posture which will appeal to bikers who don’t fathom the sporty riding position of the faired offerings in the 250cc segment for long distance touring. Having said that, at this price point, there are able and cheaper options available in both faired and naked avatars like the Honda CBR 250R, Hyosung GT250R along with the KTM 390 Duke and volume of sales doesn’t look too high for the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer. It seems for Suzuki, the GW250 in our country will act more as a medium to showcase the Indian buyers of its technical prowess and create brand awareness. Still if you find the Inazuma to your fancy you can book one now, as dealers have started accepting bookings of the bike for Rs 25,000. Deliveries of the bike are expected to commence from the day of the launch and every dealer has been allotted two bikes each.

Technical Specifications of Suzuki Inazuma: