When race and performance efforts are the selling force behind a successful company, why change things?
Since Suzuki’s introduction of the 1985 GSX-R 750, all-out performance has driven the company’s sales, becoming the DNA of the company, says Rod Lopusnak, National Sales Manager.
“We try to focus our branding from a performance aspect,” says Lopusnak. “Suzuki as a brand and company is very competitive. We have dominant race teams across our entire product line, and this is a big advantage in our industry. Since the introduction of the then-new ’85 GSX-R, basically a street-legal race bike, the competiveness began.”
Built to compete in worldwide championships, the first GSX-R 750 is considered the very first street-legal racer. Revolutionary for its time, it had over 100 horsepower, less than 180 kg dry mass, 55-degree leaning angle, lightweight alloy double-cradle perimeter frame, 18-inch wheels and a streamlined design based on the factory Formula 1 and Endurance racers.
This kind of competitive innovation is what created the race-breed, high-performance symbol that surrounds Suzuki today. But this competitiveness only engages the sales figure’s clutch…it’s the all-out dominance at the track that cranks its throttle.
And this is what adds to their sale figures; Suzuki has outsold many of the leading motorbike companies due to the high-performance aspects of their machines, including the always-in-demand GSX-R, the Hayubusa that screams take me to 200 mph, and their famed RM line of dirtbikes, which continue to lead in competition across Motocross, Supercross and GNCC. And don’t forget the podium-regular Quadracer in their ATV lineup.
 As for their street bikes, racing was helping sales even before the introduction of the GSX-R. In 1977, Yoshimura entered the Suzuki GS750 for the first time in the AMA Superbike series, taking their first win at Laguna Seca that September. Then in 1979, Wes Cooley, piloting a GS1000, took the AMA Superbike championship, with Ron Pierce also on a GS1000 taking second.
The dominance began and continued. For the past 24 years, their famed “gixxer” inline-four machines have dominated at the track, winning nine of the last 10 AMA Superbike titles.
And it’s not just street machines: think Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed in MX and Supercross. Suzuki has just set a record for most Supercross wins. And their GNCC Off-Road team and ATV teams? One word again: dominate.
“You can really pick any brand of racing and we’re pretty much in a dominant position,” Lopusnak said. “And great battles are good for the industry…think about the Chad Reed and Bubba (James Stewart) battle in Supercross this year…it just increases the height of what these machines mean in the real
performance world.”
As their race-bred machines continue to rev up sales, so do their other motorcycles, such as their cruiser line with the famed Boulevard M90; yes, you might think cruiser, but this one was designed for some gut-wrenching power. For the M90, Suzuki took their M109R drag-bike style and combined it with the 1462cc V-Twin that powers the C90s. Performance obviously in mind, they made the M90 41 pounds lighter, shortened the wheel-base and threw on a 200mm rear tire. This combination allows for some peg scrapping for under $10,000.
In the naked sportbike market, Suzuki replaced their naked SV650 with the Gladius. Upon its introduction last year, the bike received many positive reviews from the moto-media, showing how Suzuki must cater to every market by being innovative; Lopusnak says newer models need to always surface as the industry changes, and for a motorcycle company to succeed in today’s economy, R&D must keep evolving.
“R&D is the main emphasis,” he says. “We’ll have to continue the line of exciting products to everyone, and this comes right from extensive R&D; that’s what makes our industry. And for us, that’s the fun of it. Most people are in the industry not out of a necessity or commodity, but an actual passion.”
And he knows the industry, due to an impressive past that delves deep into the abyss of motorcycling. The passion for two wheels was instilled early; his grandparents owned the first Yamaha franchise in New Jersey, and before that they were BSA dealers. After meandering around, Lopusnak found himself drag racing and racing motocross for a while, then his career in the motorcycle industry began.
During an early stint with Suzuki, Lopusnak served as marketing manager for ATVs and motorcycles. He was honored by Powersports Business magazine for his work with a Powersports Leadership Award for his strong performance in rebuilding Suzuki’s ATV program. Under his direction, Suzuki’s market share jumped from about 4 percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2003.
Lopusnak then departed from Suzuki, spending 14 months as Vice President of Business Development with Tucker Rocky Distributing, a national distributor of parts and accessories to the motorcycle and ATV industry. He also had a brief tour with AMA Pro Racing in 2005.
After returning to Suzuki for the second time in less than three years, Lopusnak now manages all sales functions, including Suzuki’s four sales regions and dealer development and relations.
And it’s not just him. The company also worked through an across-the-board staff reduction in April and an influx of new DSMs and RSMs. This makes for a much larger and more diverse group running the show, instead of just one person running everything.
With all these different minds collaborating, dealers are starting to see changes from Suzuki in quickness and flexibility of bringing programs and campaigns to the market, and also the quick adaptation of these programs to the changing market conditions.
One changing market condition that Suzuki has been a governing force in lately is their ATV line. Suzuki was the first company to release ATVs to the market, but these machines weren’t a significant point in their sales until the Suzuki team built a plan and found out where they were missing sales.
“From an ATV side, which is key for us, we wanted to come out strong when we got seriously back into it. We began to build top of the line ATVs, and this gives dealers extra profit. Then in ’03 we factory backed ATV racing, and we have awesome quad racing now. It’s that performance bred side of Suzuki we love.”
Most performance machines die hard in America if they’re not on the edge of outright race madness. From the looks of things at Suzuki, they’ll continue to keep dominating this race-crazed madness across their entire lineup of machines. And their modern race stats show this in abundant numbers…just think about Mat Mladin in AMA Superbike, Chad Reed in Supercross, and Dustin Wimmer in AMA ATV Racing…
Since these machines continue destroying their competition race after race, it appears the company doesn’t need to look to other manufacturers for anything, just their own group of passionate-driven leaders and staff.
Maybe the motosport industry translation of DNA for Suzuki is Don’t Need Answers…
History of Suzuki: The Motorcycle/ATV Division of American Suzuki Motor Corporation (ASMC), Brea, Calif., was founded in 1963 by Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). ASMC markets motorcycles and ATVs via an extensive dealer network throughout 49 states. ASMC’s parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, based in Hamamatsu, Japan, is a diversified worldwide manufacturer of motorcycles, ATVs, scooters, automobiles and marine engines. Founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1920, it has 120 distributors in 191 countries. |
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