[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Updated spares costs -

[Ironhide]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Updated spares costs -

Attachment 1839456

Is it the RE Twins/ Jawa effect? Or is Kawasaki facing heat from unexpected quarters? While the cost of spares now seems realistic & in line with those of Honda (whose spares in themselves, save a few, are fairly sensibly priced I might add), this leads one to wonder s me as to how Kawasaki had been blatantly fleecing its customers in the name of imported spares. If one notices, the prices of some spares have been reduced by as much as 90% ! So, are the import duties so staggeringly steep in India that the MRP shoots up a whopping 9 times ?

There's however no mention of labour charges reducing, (or for that matter of dropping of handling charges). Have they reduced too, or do they continue to remain astronomical as was the case earlier?

Cheers !

[ashwinprakas]

I guess it's safe to presume that a shift in vendor selection from international to indigenous might be the reason for the aggressive price slashing.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Ironhide

Is it the RE Twins/ Jawa effect? Or is Kawasaki facing heat from unexpected quarters? While the cost of spares now seems realistic & in line with those of Honda (whose spares in themselves, save a few, are fairly sensibly priced I might add), this leads one to wonder s me as to how Kawasaki had been blatantly fleecing its customers in the name of imported spares. If one notices, the prices of some spares have been reduced by as much as 90% ! So, are the import duties so staggeringly steep in India that the MRP shoots up a whopping 9 times ?

Mainly because all the components were earlier imported and the prices included duties and so on. But now, these components are localised and hence the heavy price drop. However, quality of parts like the sprocket, discs, fairings and so have taken a hit and is pretty noticeable. Heck, the fairings on the green Ninja are black plastic with green stickering and doesnt even have a clearcoat on top. Only the blue one comes with a glossy finish. What is surprising is that they even localised the rims which is a boon since in case of a rim bend we can easily get it replaced. I was discussing this topic with the guys in ASC and they told me that I will never regret having paid extra for the CKD bike if we compare the quality side by side. One glance at the finish of the rim earlier when the bike was launched made me feel it was local. But back then, I thought it was just my feeling and they would not have gone to such an aggressive extent.

Regarding labour, there is no change since as per their logic, they spend similar time on each bike irrespective of the category it falls in and hence, it is unfair to charge less for a 300 and more for a 1000 while they spend the same time and effort on both bikes for regular service. The labour for bike specific jobs obviously varies. This shows that the price reduction is not due to external factors but mainly the impact of localisation of parts.

[Ironhide]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

I guess it's safe to presume that a shift in vendor selection from international to indigenous might be the reason for the aggressive price slashing.

Originally Posted by audioholic

Mainly because all the components were earlier imported and the prices included duties and so on. But now, these components are localised and hence the heavy price drop. However, quality of parts like the sprocket, discs, fairings and so have taken a hit and is pretty noticeable. Heck, the fairings on the green Ninja are black plastic with green stickering and doesnt even have a clearcoat on top. Only the blue one comes with a glossy finish. What is surprising is that they even localised the rims which is a boon since in case of a rim bend we can easily get it replaced. I was discussing this topic with the guys in ASC and they told me that I will never regret having paid extra for the CKD bike if we compare the quality side by side. One glance at the finish of the rim earlier when the bike was launched made me feel it was local. But back then, I thought it was just my feeling and they would not have gone to such an aggressive extent.

Regarding labour, there is no change since as per their logic, they spend similar time on each bike irrespective of the category it falls in and hence, it is unfair to charge less for a 300 and more for a 1000 while they spend the same time and effort on both bikes for regular service. The labour for bike specific jobs obviously varies. This shows that the price reduction is not due to external factors but mainly the impact of localisation of parts.

Okay, so the massive price drop can be explained by the simple logic of imported component vs indigenously produced ones. What I fail to understand is :

• The service and labour costs should also correspond to that of the competition. While the bikes on offer are as different as chalk from cheese, people will soon compare labour costs of RE for their 650 Twins vis a vis labour costs for Kawasaki's offering.
• Even if the components are locally produced, what keeps Kawasaki maintaining a strict QC? Or does procuring locally produced assemblies/ spares absolve them of the responsibility of keeping a high standard of QC? There are other manufacturers (of cars especially, even bikes) that are sourcing locally yet the quality is (and I'm quoting from Mary Poppins movie of 40s here) absolutely supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !
  

Cheers !

[am1m]

Woah! Some spares have gone down by more than a factor of 10x! Just localization can explain this? Or was Kawa ripping off the owners till now?

Never thought I'd say this, but a big thank you Royal Enfield! Let the Japs feel the heat and realize they need to make their bikes here if they want to compete.

[AtheK]

A bit harsh on keep saying that the quality has gone low, ok maybe it has because of local production, but again it won't be 10 times low. I saw a new ninja 300, and it still has the same desirability factor. Yes probably a current owner will be able to distinguish the quality, but for a new owner it is a new bike and he doesnt have to sweat it out.

The price difference of the spares and Cost of ownership for him is pretty much par of what he should have been paying to begin with. Great move by kawasaki, and i hope they can do this for other bikes too, quality of products will go up over the time anyway as they produce more and gain more experience.

A turn signal for 2780 and a pair for 5600 is daylight robbery, were they plated with gold or something.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Ironhide

The service and labour costs should also correspond to that of the competition. While the bikes on offer are as different as chalk from cheese, people will soon compare labour costs of RE for their 650 Twins vis a vis labour costs for Kawasaki's offering.

• Even if the components are locally produced, what keeps Kawasaki maintaining a strict QC? Or does procuring locally produced assemblies/ spares absolve them of the responsibility of keeping a high standard of QC? There are other manufacturers (of cars especially, even bikes) that are sourcing locally yet the quality is (and I'm quoting from Mary Poppins movie of 40s here) absolutely supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !

They will definitely have some sort of QC up and running. For a company which replaced my fuel filler cap with just 2mm of deviation, they would not skimp on quality to a great extent. However, their definition of quality might be something to do with the strength, durability etc and not the fit, finish and cosmetic aspects. But at least all the while, they have not targeted the mass market and hence the labour costs have not been considered. What they have improved over the last year is the customer experience, spare part availability and in the case of the 300 alone, the localisation.

Originally Posted by AtheK

it won't be 10 times low. I saw a new ninja 300, and it still has the same desirability factor. Yes probably a current owner will be able to distinguish the quality, but for a new owner it is a new bike and he doesnt have to sweat it out.

A turn signal for 2780 and a pair for 5600 is daylight robbery, were they plated with gold or something.

True. Unless you put old and new bikes side by side, you cant point out anything in the MY2019 bike. And the front turn signal costs 4990 one side

[ani_meher]

Wow, looking at the price reduction of spares, I feel the total bike should cost much less than it's current reduced price! With 2x to 10x reduction in spares price, shouldn't the combined bike too cost less?


Great to see these prices, hope the servicing costs too are normalized. Now I can ride without fear of breaking anything

[Nithesh_M]

Localization or no localization, I am still 100% sure that Kawasaki's modus operandi in India was to price the products at what seemed like a VFM deal to lure unsuspecting customers in while they settled the "premium" from the spares and service section on each bike sold.
I mean, is a Ninja 650F front wheel really worth 33k while the much more beautiful(IMO) CBR650F golden rims can be had for $11k from the same country(Thailand)?
Most SBK owners paid a lot of premium for the spares and never noticed the difference until the TBhp SBK spares and service thread opened up for us to compare the prices being charged. Afterall, charging a premium on spares/service ensures a generous influx of money as opposed to say charging a premium on the ex showroom price of a motorcycle and realistically charging for the service.

I have to thank the man who started the tbhp sbk spares/service thread because while i could have thrown all my savings on an "affordable sbk", I would have never seen the service charges coming. I am starting to think this is one of the reasons why most big bikes a few years ago would trade 2-3-4 hands while barely running more than 4 digits on the odo!

I think with the recent activity in the 300-650 market, Kawasaki had one last move to grab customers who are swayed by the new entrants. Reducing spare costs is an effective way of saying "Buy our bike and save a lot of money now" . Curious to see if the Ninja 400 will get the same treatment now.

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

I think with the recent activity in the 300-650 market, Kawasaki had one last move to grab customers who are swayed by the new entrants. Reducing spare costs is an effective way of saying "Buy our bike and save a lot of money now" . Curious to see if the Ninja 400 will get the same treatment now.

What you said is very true. The sales guy of Suzuki on enquiring about V-Strom said the same. Versys might be cheaper to buy but Suzuki is cheaper to maintain. The spares/services are way cheaper compared to versys.
Till some TBhpian updates the cost we won't know. And I'm waiting for it.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by kozhissery

The sales guy of Suzuki on enquiring about V-Strom said the same. Versys might be cheaper to buy but Suzuki is cheaper to maintain. The spares/services are way cheaper compared to versys.
Till some TBhpian updates the cost we won't know. And I'm waiting for it.

Doesn't look like it -

1. Suzuki has 4 months / 4k kms service interval compared to 6 months / 6k kms for Kawasaki. That's 6 mandatory services for the Suzuki within warranty period whereas it's 4 services for the Versys.

2. Suzuki service in itself is as expensive, if not more than the Versys. Check the below post -

Originally Posted by Sheel

My friend has updated.

1st service done. Cost Rs. 7,000. Rs. 4,000 for oil & Rs. 3,000 for labor.
2nd service might be more expensive at ~ Rs. 12,000.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super...ml#post4513183 (The Suzuki V-Strom 650XT, now launched at Rs 7.46 lakhs)

Honda is the only superbike brand with reasonable spares and service cost.

[Aditya]

Kawasaki Ninja 300 spare parts prices slashed - Posts moved to a new thread.

[Ren8]

What i fail to understand is the previous pricing for the components, the cost of the parts mentioned here add up to INR 2,87,xxx which is excluding some critical components like the engine, suspension, electricals etc. So, it is safe to assume that earlier, just the parts alone would cost more than than the bike itself.

Is it because a CKD unit attracts lesser duty when compared to importing the parts separately or was Kawasaki milking the customers who had no other option rather than paying through their nose to get simple parts replaced ?

[Funny]

This image is doing rounds on WhatsApp after the news about Kawasaki N300 spare price reduction was released on auto portals/forums.



I am not sure what to believe, but I really hope the price reduction is true and Kawasaki follows the suit with other successful models as well! The spares/service cost is the only thing against the Kawasaki, if they fix that then they can be unbeatable in the current market scenario within India, IMO.

P.S. The 4th comment is hilarious