ASK THE MXPERTS: YOU CAN’T SELL MORE IF YOU MAKE LESS

Ken Roczen gave Suzuki sales a 2023 boost, but there was a lot more to it.

YOU CAN’T SELL MORE IF YOU MAKE LESS

Dear MXperts,
I was looking at sales data not too long ago, and Suzuki was showing growth in off-road motorcycle sales for 2023. There has been an upward trend for the past couple of years. The data says that people are buying Suzuki dirt bikes, but I still see very few at our local tracks. What accounts for the increase in Suzuki sales?

We believe that the sales numbers for Suzuki are accurate and can be explained by four marketing trends.

First, Ken Roczen is responsible for the bump in 2023 sales. Kenny proved that the RM-Z450 was much more competitive than most people thought.

Second, a significant number of sales are directly related to the increasing MSRP of modern motocross bikes. Suzuki has bucked this trend, in part because the company isn’t spending any R&D money upgrading its bikes. Of course, that means they are not investing R&D money in lowering the bike’s weight, upping the electronics package, adding electric start or increasing the horsepower. The outcome is that the MSRP of a Suzuki is much lower than that of its six competitors. When you add in the fact that Suzuki dealers are among the most aggressive wheelers and dealers when it comes to out-the-door pricing, a buyer can get a Suzuki RM-Z250 or RM-Z450 for a couple thousand dollars less than the high-priced spread.

Third, as for Suzuki’s sales trending upwards over the past couple years, let’s not forget that during the Covid-19 pandemic, every motorcycle in the country was sold out. People bought motorcycles and bicycles to escape from being locked up in their houses. It didn’t take a great product to get sales during that time, thus Suzuki sold every dirt bike they made, but so did everyone else (only in greater numbers).

Fourth, when a manufacturer does not sell very many motocross bikes in a given year, the company either orders the same number of units for the next model year or, more likely, fewer units. Suzuki has seen some lean years in the last decade, and it is unlikely that they have ever increased production on the RM-Z250 or RM-Z450. It is hard to grow your market share without making more and more units. Need an example? KTM has set sales records for the last 12 years in a row, with sales increases of 13 percent per year. For Suzukis to become more visible at your local tracks, Suzuki would have to be brave enough to not only make more motocross bikes but improve them at the same time.