One of the most awaited motorcycle launches of 2024 was from Kawasaki. This bike is called the KLX 230 S and it created a lot of excitement late last year when the prototypes of the bike were spotted testing around Pune.
Now that the bike has been officially unveiled, the excitement among off-road enthusiasts has hit the roof. But there’s a small problem—the prices aren’t out yet, and the reveal is expected in December—possibly at the 2024 India Bike Week.
Sadly, at the time of the India unveiling, Kawasaki India gave bad news—the KLX 230 S is a completely knocked-down (CKD) model and not fully manufactured in India. This means this green motorcycle will be taxed higher than we’d expected. However, the company did say that if the bike sees good potential, they are open to the idea of fully manufacturing it in India.
Initially, the price of the KLX 230 S was expected to be close to that of the Hero XPulse 200. The Pro variant of the Xpulse 200 is priced at around Rs 1.9 lakh. So the expectation was a price tag of around Rs 2 lakh (ex-showroom) for Kawasaki. But with the CKD route, the KLX 230 S could be priced as high as Rs 2.8 to Rs 2.9 lakh (ex-showroom). In fact, during the recently concluded media ride of this bike, the top officials of Kawasaki India weren’t even comfortable with a price tag of around Rs 2.5 lakh. So it is clear that the KLX 230 S is likely to have an on-road pricing of around Rs 3.4 lakh which makes it more expensive than the KTM 250 Adventure and priced on par with the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450.
The Kawasaki KLX 230 S has a massive potential to change the segment and also add some new excitement. If done right, the KLX 230 S could become a second bike for a lot of us. But it all comes down to the pricing. The majority of Indians need a value-for-money bike, and that is only possible when the pricing is right.
