Kawasaki races for 1,500 bike sales in India in CY 2014

Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Kawasaki has marked its entry into the South India market by joining hands with the Khivraj Group, a leading automobile dealer. Khivraj, which has opened a state-of-the-art 3S facility for Kawasaki products in Bangalore, is the company’s third dealership in the country after SNK in Pune and Baggalink in Delhi.

According to Shigeto Nishikawa, deputy MD of India Kawasaki Motors, “2013-14 was a watershed year for superbikes in India and we received tremendous feedback from riders on what they want. Typically, riders evolve over the years, starting with small displacement sports bikes before buying heavier and more expensive superbikes. The market is ripe and we plan to go mass with work-of-art budget offerings while keeping in mind the dreams of the Indian youth.”

Although the company has launched its standalone operations in India in 2010, it commenced sales of high-end bikes from 2013.

This year, the company expects to sell 1,500 motorcycles across the country. Speaking to Autocar Professional, Nishikawa said that from January-June 2014 the company has sold 640 units. He expects a majority of this year’s sales to come from two models – the Ninja 300 and Ninja 650 – which are imported as Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units and assembled at its Pune manufacturing facility.

The other recently launched bigger-engined models like the Ninja ZX14R (Rs 17,15,802), Ninja ZX10R (Rs 15,96,461), Ninja 1000 (Rs 12,74,613), Z1000 (12,74,613) and Z800 (Rs 830,249) are imported as Completely Built Units (CBUs) and sold in India, he added. Of these five models, the company expects to the Z800 to sell better as it has a competitive price-tag (above prices ex-showroom Bangalore). The expected sales target is 1,000 units of the Ninja 300 and 300 units of Ninja 650 and 100 to 150 units of the Z800 in 2014.

Nishikawa commented that the Indian market for above-500 cc segment bikes hovers around 6,000 units a year and is growing at a rate of 25 percent. “We are expecting an around 25 percent market share in this segment by 2015,” he added.

As regards expanding the sales network, he said more dealers will be added depending on the sales trend and may ask even existing dealerships like Khivraj to open showrooms in cities like Hyderabad.

According to Pushpchand Chordia, chief operating officer of the Khivraj Group, the five Kawasaki models launched for the South India market span engine displacements of 806cc to 1142cc and can achieve speeds in excess of 100kph in less than 3 seconds.

Photograph: Kawasaki India officials at the new dealership launch in Bangalore on June 28. Shigeto Nishikawa, deputy managing director of India Kawasaki Motors, is second from left.