India Kawasaki launches Ninja Z800 as CBU; targets sales of 200 units in a year

New Delhi, January 20, 2014: India Kawasaki Motors, the 100 percent subsidiary of Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Kawasaki Motors Corp, has rolled out its Ninja Z800 superbike after inaugurating its second exclusive India dealership at Delhi today. The company’s first dealership is in Pune.

To be brought in as a CBU, the Z800 is expected to notch sales of 200 units with 100 units to be sold from the Delhi outlet and the remaining from Pune. It is priced at Rs 805,000 (ex-showroom Delhi) and Rs 790,000 (ex-showroom Pune). The models will be serviced at the Probiking service centres at Pune and Delhi. The Delhi outlet has till now received orders and payments for about 14 Ninja Z800s.

Speaking at the launch, deputy managing director Shigeto Nishikawa said the bike’s higher price in Delhi is due to freight cost for transporting the bike from Pune where India Kawasaki has a manufacturing setup at Bajaj Auto’s plant. Despite the lower taxation on a sub-Rs 10 lakh bike, the higher freight cost makes up the balance cost.

The company’s CBU models are imported from Japan and Thailand. Thus far, four models are imported as CBUs including the Ninja ZX 14R, ZX 10R and Z1000 and Ninja 1000 launched last September. In the past three months, the ZX 14R and ZX 10R have sold 10 units each while the Z1000 and Ninja 1000 have sold five units each. Two models are imported as CKD and locally assembled at Pune – the Ninja 300 (800 units sold) and Ninja 650 (about 200 units).

For calendar year 204, the company is targeting sales of 400 CBU units and 1,400 CKD units. “We are targeting sales of 70-85 units of each CBU motorcycle. If we achieve sales of 100 units of each CBU, we can consider local assembly, growing at 20-30 per annum over the next 2-3 years,” said Nishikawa.

The company plans to open five new outlets by end-2015 and Nishikawa sees the Indian market splitting in two directions – the expanding and highly competitive Rs 50,000 segment and the growing premium Rs 1 lakh-Rs 2 lakh market with many brands planning to tap it in the future.

India Kawasaki will also be offering accessories like a meter cover, front axle guard and tank pad for the Ninja Z800. These will be extended to other existing models as well. The company also exports 30 items like blinkers, lamps and meters from India and plans to step up this business to Rs 25 crore in 2014 and Rs 60 crore by 2016, said Yuji Horiuchi, managing director, India Kawasaki Motors.

Establishing its base in India since July 2010, the company’s assembly facility at Pune has a production capacity of 5,000 vehicles per annum with one line dedicated for engine assembly.

SHOBHA MATHUR