Kawasaki launched the Ninja 250R in the Indian market in 2008 and found good success for their premium offering. The motorcycle was launched at Rs. 2.69 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi) and gradually prices increased. Earlier this year, the company replaced the Ninja 250R with the Ninja 300, which is priced at Rs. 3.5 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). When the Kawasaki Ninja 250R was launched, there were very few options for buyers to choose from and thus the quarter-litre green machine enjoyed monopoly in the Indian market. However today, prospective Ninja 300 customers are swayed away by the KTM Duke 390 and Honda CBR250R, both bikes are priced at almost half the cost of the 300cc Ninja!
Kawasaki has all of a sudden become serious about India. The company understands selling under 2000 units a year isn’t a feasible business model. Thus the Japanese big-wig has gone solo with its superbikes in India, launching its flagship ZX-14R and ZX-10R which are retailed through their own network. Currently Kawasaki has a capacity of 5000 units at it Chakan facility but the company is only able to utilise 1500 units, leaving 3500 unit capacity idle. To enable optimum utilisation of resources, Kawasaki is contemplating the re-launch of the Ninja 250 in the Indian market.
“We have a capacity to make 5000 units a year in India but we are operating at 1500 units at present. We have to make further use of this facility to improve its utilisation. That is why we are exploring the plan of launching more locally made products including the Ninja 250,” Shigeto Nishikawa, deputy MD, India Kawasaki Motors, said.
Now crucially which Ninja 250 will come to India is the question. The one you see on this post is the old Ninja 250, which is still on sale in the USA, while the latest Ninja 250 (on sale in Europe and other Asian countries) is identical to the Ninja 300 in appearance. It doesn’t make sense for Kawasaki to bring the latest Ninja 250 as it will eat into the Ninja 300’s sales. Thus the old Ninja 250 at a mouth watering Rs. 2.5 lakhs is sure to attract a lot of buyers. Since the old Ninja 250 is quite old, Kawasaki can price it very aggressively and the report says that the Ninja 250 could be re-launched at a more affordable price than the earlier Rs. 2.69 lakhs.
The 249cc, parallel-twin engine in the Kawasaki Ninja 250 produces 33 PS of power at 11,000 RPM and 22 Nm of torque at 8200 RPM. The bike offers stellar performance and we quite like the design of the old Ninja 250, even though it has a very basic 80s instrument cluster. If Kawasaki goes ahead and launches the Ninja 250 at an on-road price of Rs. 2.5 lakhs, the biggest worry will be for Honda. The CBR250R is already facing slack from the KTM Duke 390 and the arrival of the Ninja 250 at an affordable price will further dampen sales of Honda’s overpriced motorcycle.
Source – Business Standard
