India Kawasaki Motors is rumoured to be working on heavily localizing the Kawasaki Ninja 300 to make it the most affordable twin-cylinder motorcycle in India, reports Autocar India. That said, Kawasaki is offering discounts of INR 41,000 on the Ninja 300 under the Monsoon Offer.
The Kawasaki Ninja 300 is the oldest offering in the entry-level performance segment, and with the advent of rising competition from the KTM RC 390 and the TVS Apache RR 310, the Ninja 300 is starting to become redundant in the market. The latter costs INR 2.37 lakh and INR 2.23 lakh respectively, while the Ninja costs INR 3.60 lakh (all prices are ex-showroom Delhi). The Ninja 300 continues to be on sale in India alongside the Kawasaki Ninja 400, which costs INR 4.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The local assembly of Ninja 300 will help Kawasaki to reduce the price of the motorcycle as compared to its nearest rivals, while it could also bring down costs of spare parts. Rumours suggest that Kawasaki is likely to localize components like body panels, lights, battery, electrical components and other internal parts, while the company will also manufacture the wheels and tires locally.
The heavy localization is expected to bring down the prices of the Kawasaki Ninja 300 in the range of INR 2.50-2.70 lakh (ex-showroom) with an on-road cost of around INR 3-3.20 lakh. Kawasaki currently imports the motorcycle in India as CKD units from Thailand, which increases the price by around INR 1 lakh. The company is also likely to offer ABS on the Ninja 300 as the deadline of 1 April 2019 is only months away.
Also Read: First 2018 Kawasaki Ninja 400 in India delivered in Bengaluru
The Kawasaki Ninja 300 sources power from a 296 cc, parallel-twin, liquid-cooled engine that is capable of producing 39 PS of maximum power at 11,000 rpm while developing a peak torque of 27 Nm at 10,000 rpm, while the engine pairs to a 6-speed gearbox with a standard slipper clutch. Apart from the RC 390 and the Apache RR310, the Ninja 300 also rivals the Yamaha YZF-R3 and the Benelli 302R, both of which get ABS as standard.
[Source: Autocar India]
