Suzuki Teases New Hayabusa Reveal on Feb. 5
Suzuki is teasing a new model launch for Feb. 5, and all clues point towards it being for a new Hayabusa. The Hayabusa remained a part of Suzuki’s U.S. lineup in 2020, but in Europe, the GSX1300R was dropped in 2018 when Euro 4 standards were introduced. Rumors of a new Hayabusa have been trickling around ever since, and it looks like Suzuki is ready to launch a new model.
Below is the international teaser, showing the new model on a high-speed test track, as indicated by the extremely banked corners. The video is simply titled “The all-new model will be unveiled” while the version of the video on Suzuki Canada’s YouTube channel is titled “Something BIG is coming to Suzuki Canada!”
Suzuki Motor of America released its own teaser video titled “A Generational Shift Is Coming.” The American video begins with some street scenes in LA before cutting to some drag racing start lights followed by footage of the same track in the international teaser.
The international trailer offers a few brief glimpses of the new model which, though blurry, still offers a few visual cues that suggest the model is a new Hayabusa. It’s clearly a sportbike, for one thing, and we can make out two large, shiny exhausts, one on each side of the rear wheel.
A few shots from the front reveal a large central headlight with smaller lights on either side (likely daytime run lights, for markets where they are required). In the one rear shot of the bike pulling away, we can see a tail with a large hump, like the previous Hayabusa, but a horizontal taillight instead of the more vertical light used on the most recent generation model.
The only clear detailed shot of the bike is of the instrumentation, with a pair of analogue dials on either side of a small color display.
If you’ve ridden previous Hayabusa models, the general layout of the instrumentation should look familiar:
Suzuki seems to be going away from the trend of using large TFT screens, in favor of a smaller one between an analogue speedometer and tachometer. The small TFT screen remains necessary, of course, with the Hayabusa’s modern electronics. In the video, we can see information for the Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (SDMS), and lean angle, which suggests a sophisticated IMU, plus other electronic aids such as traction control and lift control.
So, what can we expect from the new Hayabusa? Suzuki must have something up its sleeve to make this bike worthy of the name. The Hayabusa has always been about delivering gobs of power, but in a world where Panigale V4s, S1000RRs and Ninja H2s exist, the 2020 model’s claimed 194 hp isn’t that impressive anymore. An upgrade in power should be expected, but would that come from an increase over the previous models’ 1340cc displacement? Or could the years-long work on turbocharger technology finally be ready for Suzuki to follow Kawasaki’s lead into forced induction?
We’ve previously written about a Suzuki patent for a semi-automatic transmission that used a Hayabusa in its illustrations. Suzuki Motor of America may be hinting at the technology with its “generational shift” video title.
We’ll find out next week, when Suzuki reveals the new Hayabusa.
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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Suzuki does not have the capital to come at it's competition in a head to head feature battle. A "value proposition" kind of bike might be a good angle though. Not as powerful and over the top as the Kawi and Euro bikes, but plenty of power in naturally aspirated big displacement form, simpler with comparatively basic ABS and Cruise and TC. Just update the bike, make it lighter, sharper, more modern looking, simple but good suspension with no excessive electronics attached. Offer bags!
The Hayabusa really does not need more power. What it needs is to get out of the 90s in the style department.
You have a good point, Campy. They are good for a laugh and a smile. Thanks for showing me another side!