Kawasaki India denies reports of it localizing engines - Report

A report in Car and Bike states that Kawasaki India is not planning to localise powertrains of the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and other 650 cc machines. The latter includes products like the Kawasaki Ninja 650, Kawasaki Z650 and Kawasaki Versys 650. The 2017 editions of the models were launched in March 2017.

Local manufacturing usually brings down prices as the manufacturer can save on import duties and pass them on to the customer. One India Kawasaki Motors official said:

We are already importing these from Thailand. As it is, India enjoys a free trade agreement with Thailand, and as such, the price advantage is passed on to our customers anyway. We currently don't have any plans of further localisation of our bikes.

The Kawasaki Ninja 300, Kawasaki Ninja 650, Kawasaki Z650 and Kawasaki Versys 650 are retailed in India via the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) route from Thailand. The Kawasaki Z250 has the maximum localisation level of around 40 percent.

Also Read: Kawasaki Z250 BSIV priced at INR 3.09 lakhs

It's to be noted that Kawasaki India broke ties with Bajaj Auto and commenced independent operations from April 2017.

[Source: Car and Bike]