Members from Suzuki Motor Corporation in Japan attended Suzuki GB’s annual dealer conference, giving representatives from the dealership network a chance to provide their thoughts and feedback directly to factory staff.

Akira Kyuji, Suzuki Motor Corporation’s division manager for motorcycle marketing and product planning, along with Takashi Ise, executive general manager for motorcycle operations, and Kazuki Tsuchisawa, department manager in charge of the UK, made the journey from Japan to the conference, which took place at the Belfry Hotel and Resort in Sutton Coldfield.

There, Suzuki GB staff delivered important business and strategy updates to its retail partners, before Kyuji san and his colleagues from SMC held an open forum to hear from the network.

After the conference, a black-tie dinner was held, before the customary handing out of awards, including a combined total of 170 years’ worth of long service awards.

Awards were also handed out for sales and aftersales dealers of the year, an overall dealer of the year, a customer service accolade, and a new Serious. Fun award, while others were recognised by Suzuki Financial Services and Suzuki Insurance Services.

Suzuki GB’s regional account managers were also responsible for nominating Suzuki Specialists in their area, which considered the levels of dedication and commitment from individual members of the network.

The full list of recipients is below:

Partnership awards
60 Years of Partnership – Single Tracker Motorcycles
50 Years of Partnership – St. Neots Motorcycles
50 Years of Partnership  – B&B Motorcycles
10 Years of Partnership – R&C Motorcycles

Dealership award winners

Dealer of the Year 2025 – Haslemere Motorcycles
Sales Dealer of the Year 2025 – Cupar Motorcycles
Aftersales Dealer of the Year 2025 – St. Neots Motorcycles
Customer Experience Dealer of the Year 2025 – Castledine Motorcycles
Serious.Fun Award 2025 – For Contribution to Racing  – Powerslide Motorcycles
Suzuki Insurance Services Dealer of the Year 2025 – Cupar Motorcycles
Suzuki Financial Services Dealer of the Year 2025 – Powerslide Motorcycles

Suzuki Specialist awards
2025 Suzuki Specialist of the Year – Midlands – Mark Andrews (Sutton Motorcycles)
2025 Suzuki Specialist of the Year – North – Greg Darling (MCS Scotland)
2025 Suzuki Specialist of the Year –South – Luke Pirie (Frasers of Gloucester)

Suzuki GB’s head of motorcycling, Jonathan Martin, said after the conference, “Every year it is great to get together with our dealers to discuss plans, objectives, and strategies for the year ahead, but also to reflect on a job well done and reward the excellence we have within our network. It’s incredible to be handing out awards for dealerships that have been with Suzuki for half a century or more, and to reward those dealerships that really excel in areas from customer service and insurance to sales and aftersales.

“This year it was also great to hand over the inaugural Serious.Fun award, which the team at Powerslide are fully deserving of due to their commitment to racing with the 8R last season, and we’re excited to see them contest for a British championship in 2026.

“This is also the first time that we have made a special effort to reward individuals within the network. Our Suzuki Specialists all live and breathe the brand, but we have elected to acknowledge those that went above and beyond last year. 

“And, of course, it was brilliant for our dealership partners to be able to engage directly with factory staff, sharing with them their experiences on the very front lines of dealing with customers, providing their valuable feedback to SMC members, and also to hear from the team in Japan on the future direction of the brand.”