After teasing us for months with talk of a new middleweight adventure-tourer, Suzuki underwhelmed us with the debut of the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS. That’s not to say that the new wee-strom is a bad bike (in fact early reports from the European media test reports are quite favorable), it is just for all the hype that surrounded the release, we expected something a bit more than a polished-over version of the previous model.
With that lack of progression, the new Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS feels more like a model refresh than a new motorcycle, but you wouldn’t know it from prices hitting our cousins over the pond, as the V-Strom 650 is getting a considerable price increase in both the British (pounds sterling) and European (Euros) markets. While pricing has yet to be determined for the North American market (USD & CAD), if the European MSRPs are any indication, we can expect a nice 5+% price increase on the previous year’s DL650 ABS’s $8,099 MSRP .
This price hike estimation is based on the fact that pricing in the UK went up 5.6% compared to the outgoing V-Strom’s MSRP of £6,535, rising in 2012 to £6,899 for the new model. Similarly, our friends living on the EU mainland are seeing a €1,000 price hike on the ABS model, with prices going from €7,499 to €8,499. Helping subdue the bitter taste of a 13.4% price increase in the EU, Suzuki is offering an introductory price of €8,190 through the end of October 2011, which temporarily brings the price increase down to only 9.2%.
While international pricing from country-to-country and continent-to-continent has a variety of factors that makes it difficult to predict pricing trends, the pattern certainly speaks for itself abroad. With the declining value of the yen, it certainly isn’t surprising to see the unfavorable currency exchange affecting motorcycle pricing from Japanese manufacturers. It’ll be interesting to see however how insularly the American market is to these pressures, as companies often break from pure currency conversion prices when selling in the USA. If we were betting though, we’d expect at least a modest price bump for the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS. Hopefully though we’re wrong.
Source: Suzuki UK & Suzuki Italia
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