Kawasaki is going berserk with new model launches. They have completely revamped their motorcycle lineup in India and have launched as many as 6-7 new motorcycles this year and have plans for more.
In an interaction with Autocar Pro, Yutaka Yamashita, MD of Kawasaki India shared that they have plans to increase their network by 30-40 percent this year. Now this is interesting – because after their split with Bajaj, Kawasaki is left only with ~12 dealerships of its own. And even if we add 30 to 40 percent to this number we are looking at only 4-5 new dealerships this year.
The point which we would want to make is – shouldn’t Kawasaki, considering the grave issues faced by the existing customers from Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities (who purchased their motorcycles from Bajaj Probiking), be completely concentrating on increase their network as fast as possible. They are down from many hundreds to just 12-13 touchpoints. This should be their first priority and we are surprised that they have earmarked only 4 to 5 dealerships for the rest of this year, which is way too less for the circumstances they are in.
Expanding to Probiking levels may not be possible for them for the coming 8-10 years but the intent of spreading (and spreading fast) is not seen. It appears that Kawasaki is more focused on selling and offering motorcycles to their current clientele and prospects in the Tier 1 cities they are currently operating in.
Also Read: More Kawasaki Customers Share Their Pain [Kawasaki-Bajaj Split]
On the positive side, they are completely moving away from Bajaj and have plans to establish their own assembly plant in Chakan. Going solo will give them the liberty to move at a faster pace without anybody else’s intervention. Recently, they have quashed the rumour of further localisation of their 300 cc and 650 cc engines!
