India Kawasaki Motor is planning to re-launch the Ninja 250R for the Indian market according to a report from the Business Standard. The Ninja 250R was discontinued in April to make its way for the Ninja 300 that was launched few months ago for Rs 3.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The Japanese manufacturer is currently doing feasibility study to launch their other brands like the Vulcan, KLX, Concours and KX in the Indian market. The company has suddenly started taking the Indian market very seriously and we don’t blame them as we are one of the largest two wheeler market in the world. Just few days ago, the company launched two super sport motorcycles for the Indian market, the Ninja ZX-10R and the Ninja ZX-14R for Rs 15.7 lakh and Rs 16.9 lakh (ex-showroom Pune) respectively.
Their Chakan facility which is shared with Bajaj Auto is currently believed to be under-utilised. With a total capacity of 5000 units a year, the company is able to use only 1500 units at present. So the company is finding a way to use these unused capacities. The best way to fill in is by re-launching the Ninja 250R at a very competitive price.
It will be interesting to see how the company will market and position this two cylinder motorcycle as the Ninja 300 has been priced at Rs 3.5 lakh and the KTM Duke 390 at Rs 1.80 lakh, (both ex-showroom Delhi). But if the company prices the motorcycle somewhere close to the price of the Honda CBR250R (Rs 2.1 lakh); it just won’t be a great deal but will also dampen Honda’s sales.
"We are presently studying what more brands we could launch in India. We have many brands in our portfolio and we need to see which category we could enter. We have a capacity to make 5,000 units a year in India but we are operating at 1,500 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,” said Shigeto Nishikawa, deputy managing director, India Kawasaki Motors.
