The 300 does'nt make sense for India. It is most likely a replacement for the 250 in mature markets. But the 400 would slot in bang on between the 250 and the 650. The 300 will only eat up into the 250 sales.

At this point, saying anything is impossible. We don't know what import mode will they choose, or if they will go for home production itself after CBR and N250R's success?

Home production might make it close to 2L, or slightly lower? Import might take it to somewhere above 3.5L. It can go both ways.

==
If my opinion is taken, its the right time for starting home production. My reasons are:

1. The 300cc bike might not be updated for some more years as its just updated now. The plant would require less changes once it is set up.

2. Now, the power gap between CBR 250R and this Ninja is much wider now. A full 14 PS difference now.
*I know they're different bikes for different purposes, but this is a different country too*

3. Now it has ABS (optional) and modern console too.

Given enough budget and priority towards sharp bikes, it will be very difficult for an aware guy, to choose CBR over this Ninja, unless he's into touring.

@Samarth - Agreed with your view.
But AFAIK, there is no news of Kawks starting a home production of Ninja.. Is it??

1. Kawasaki will not start a home production unit they barely see a market out here.

2. Lets assume they do start a homologated-unit, it has to be throuh Bajaj.

2.5 Bajaj wont do it for free now would it? It would, like any progressive business demand a huge STAKE in Kawasaki.

3. Lets assume Kawasaki sells ia lil stake to Bajaj for a plant (which it wont) and does it RIGHT NOW, it will take another 3 years minimum to start supplies to India.

4. Say Kawasaki is willing to literally partner with Bajaj like KTM and start the Ninja production here, Bajaj will not agree. It has KTM in its kitty and 2 beautiful 350cc monsters awaiting launch. Both at a price to literally sweep away all 250-500cc mills, including Bajaj's very own Ninja 250r.


Bottomline: Homologation? Dream on!

Amen to that. By owning half of KTM, its business sense to sell more KTM and I predict that slowly Bajaj's relation with Kawasaki (which once included complete technology dependency during days of KB100) to be restricted to selling just their superbikes.

Ninja 250R (as well as CBR250R) would be under threat from a fully faired Pulsar 350SS next year which could be priced under 2 lakhs OTR. By that time the only Kawasaki Bajaj could sell without competing with it would be Ninja 650 (because Duke 690 ABS would be a Naked Bike) and even that could face competition when Bajaj starts putting its energies on fully faired bikes from KTM stable.

You think a 250cc motorcycle costing 3.2-3.4 Lacs can't be priced near 2 Lacs, if it is domestically homologated & produced? Faired bikes always have had their charm in our country over naked ones. When R15, Ninja 250R & CBR can sell on a somewhat sustainable basis, a 250-300cc costing 2L surely can sell better, right?


Although I completely agree with your theory about the 350cc twins, but despite confirming it in the interview, they can still go straight to the 690 twins, and keep Ninja in the midrange sports, can't they? This way, they can keep both KTM and Kawasaki involved, and reach mostly all practical segments (200, 300, 690) all at once. I find it a fantastic idea.


NOTE: I know the above might not actually happen, and I'm just brainstorming. But this new Ninja 250/ 300 sure is desirable... You can't blame me for liking it, can you?

How I wish your words come true when I drool at that black '13 250 and how I wish your words DONT come true when I think about the 350s.

See, either Ninja is homologated and sold for 2lac (which is an orgasmic thought in itself) or the 350s are brought in at the same price-point. Both cant happen simultaneous (?) cuz "practically" the twins would eat up the Ninja despite it being the faired one simple cuz the target audience being brutal enthusiasts would obviously go for the 47horses ridden Duke350. No?

Not necessarily. Thanks to Ninja's fairing, it manages top speed over 160 using its 33 horses. But Harley Davidson Iron 883 which has 45-47 horses something also has a similar top speed. Bad comparison but still.... Not to forget that Indians love big badass looking faired bikes

Oh and there is one more factor we can add to speculative arguments that I think I posted somewhere else as well:

Where does the new KTM Duke 350 get its chassis from ? I mean Duke 690 is manufactured completely in Austria. Duke 125/200 are made in India and they share the same chassis and this chassis is made at the Chakkan plant. There is very less chance of 350 Duke reusing 690's chassis (which may instead be gifted to the 450 Duke). So either the chassis is completely new or altered version of 125/200 chassis or the same chassis as 125/200. In all these cases, there is a very HIGH likelihood that its chassis will be made in India. If the existing 350cc engine from Enduro/Motocross range is reused, on a temporary basis (assuming they want a much quicker launch) at the most the engine will be imported from Austria.

PS: my own views above, but you're welcome to dissect it

Not really following this thread so dont know if this is a repost or not.

But the 2013 Ninja 250 is actually gonna be a 300!!!!!!!!

Kawasaki Ninja 300

^^ I don't think anyone here knows about this yet..I just noticed this on Visrodown today.

It is actually a 300cc and not 250. Producing around 7bhp more (i.e 39bhp in total)

they say "The new bike also features "advanced racing-derived technology" in the form of a slipper clutch and a back-torque limiter."

The site Quoted is of Kawak UK. The same model is launched in Indonesia as 250cc mil FI, and with optional ABS..
So for Indo -it's 250cc
for UK - it;s 300cc

Guess, we will have to wait and see what is planned for India..

From Marketing point of view, 300CC seems to be perfect for India, IMO.
Coz, If it's a 300 cc within current 250cc price range (they can also add a little premium), then no one will mind paying more compared to CBR 250, and it will also not canibalize the sales of KTM 375, and 350cc next gen pulsar from the Bajaj stable.


Are the Bajaj Officials reading This??

^^^I dont know man.. For some reason I dont like it as 300. *its complicated*

We usually get UK spec models here..I see the 300cc Ninja coming over, on that basis. But the 250cc seems more practical and in line with current marketing strategy Kawasaki has with Bajaj...so Can't be sure what comes when

Please elaborate.

Ninja 300 features

Ninja 300 features: