Bajaj has finally spoken on their partnership with Kawasaki. According to the official word they have shared with us moments back, they say that they and Kawasaki have arrived at a mutually amicable decision to end their alliance in India from 1st April 2017.
In the same tone, they go on to say that they will want to focus on the KTM brand completely and the Probiking stores (which sold Kawasaki’s CKD motorcycles till now along with KTMs) will only house KTM’s Dukes and RCs, now that they have five models in the portfolio.
They have cleared that these KTM-exclusive showrooms will NOT sell nor offer service to Kawasaki motorcycles including that of the older customers (who may have purchased these from Probiking shops). IKM (India Kawasaki Motors) will have to take care of service and spare parts for these customers.
This leaves the existing customers of Ninja 300, Ninja 250, Z250, Ninja 650 etc in non-metro cities absolutely helpless since they do not have any dealerships yet. In fact, in comparison to the 300+ KTM dealerships, Kawasaki only has about 10-15 dealerships in India at the moment. A lot of existing customers have already shared their pain and helplessness at this step from Kawasaki/Bajaj!
Bajaj also tells us that they will continue to have co-operative partnership across the rest of the world for existing and upcoming business-pacts.
Bajaj-Kawasaki Split – 3 Points: Summary
- Going by the language used by Bajaj, it appears to be a step initiated by them. They have cleared that they want complete focus on the fast growing KTM brand.
- Kawasaki only stands to lose from this since it will take them years to establish as many service points as Bajaj’s Probiking. Bajaj seems to be much better placed and may have to let go only a very minor share of the sales/service they earned by selling/servicing Kawasaki’s motorcycles.
- If you are a Tier 2 (or worst Tier 3) Kawasaki CKD motorcycle customer, you will have hard time getting your motorcycle serviced. And even if you manage to travel to your nearest Kawasaki outlet, it will take a lot of time to source spare parts for your motorcycle. So, in short, this is a nightmare for all of you…
Next Read: Kawasaki-Bajaj Break-up: Ninja 300 Owner Shares His Suffering
