Ninja sales in India

[KZ]

From Bike Advice: http://bikeadvice.in/kawasaki-celebrate ... kes-india/

"Kawasaki Celebrates the Sale of 1000 Ninja 250R bikes in India
November 28, 2010

Kawasaki is definitely on a roll with its Kawasaki Ninja 250R selling like a piece of hot cake. As a matter of fact, Kawasaki has marked the sale of 1000 Ninja 250R motorbikes in India. Kawasaki is already jumping in excitement as they just got more than what they expected. With this remarkable achievement Ninja 250R has become the first multi cylinder sports bike in India to sell of 1000 units in a single year.
Ninja 250R is exclusively retailed in India by Bajaj probiking (an exclusive retail outlet for premium bikes). The retailer has also got 32 showrooms across 30 cities in India."

How does that compare to Thailand? - I doubt they sold a thousand bikes total!

 

[TonyBKK]

KZ wrote:

How does that compare to Thailand? - I doubt they sold a thousand bikes total!

I'll bet you a beer that Kawasaki sells way more than a thousand bikes in Thailand every year. KLX250, D-Tracker, Ninja 250R, ER6n, Ninja 650R, Versys and Vulcan. Not sure if we can also include the KSR110, D-Tracker 125, KLX 125, and Boss? Considering there are over a billion Indians and only some ~66 million Thais I'm actually a bit surprised that they haven't sold more Ninjas in India...
Let the Good Times Roll!
:mrgreen:

 

[Changnoi1]

I also think that Kawasaki Big Bike is doing good bizz .... at least here in Pattaya. Yesterday they just sold 2 ER6n's. And they have them in stock so they must be selling ...

And the KSR's are sold like they are free (yesterday they just had 10 new KSR's deliverd). Very popular bike with Thai.

Chang Noi's

 

[KZ]

Tony, I know you're doing your best, but do you really think Kawasaki sells way over a thousand bikes a year? I'm talking "big bikes", 250 and up.
Does anybody have any reliable sales figures?

 

[TonyBKK]

KZ wrote: Tony, I know you're doing your best, but do you really think Kawasaki sells way over a thousand bikes a year? I'm talking "big bikes", 250 and up.
Does anybody have any reliable sales figures?

Kawasaki doesn't publish their sales figures (I've asked at Kawa HQ and also at a factory tour) but they only need to sell 83 bikes a month to reach 1000 a year and they have 8 big bike dealerships in Thailand. If each dealer sells only 10-11 bikes a month that's 1000 bikes/year. I imagine the 250cc+ Kawasaki rental fleets in Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin, etc probably add up to over 1000 bikes. Kawasaki Rama 9 delivers on average about 5 new motorcycles every day but I don't have a break down on what models.

[youtube:3mrl4srn] /youtube:3mrl4srn]
Ride On!
Tony :happy5:

 

[brian66]

1000, 250 Ninja sales in a county of over a billion people seems a very low number.
I compare that with Australia with only 20 million people.
In all of 2009, 2515, 250 Ninjas were sold. In the 6 months period of January to June 2010, 970, 250 Ninjas were sold. A drop of 13% for the same period in 2009 blamed on the consumers not spending due to global financial worries.
So 1000 sales per year for a population as large as India’s seems very poor sales when you compare that with 970 sold in 6 months in Australia.
I have heard figures of millions of small Hondas being sold in India each year.
Just for interest for those who buy the Versy in Thailand. In Australia, only 52 Versy’s were sold in all of 2009. In the first six months of 2010 only 11 Versy’s were sold. This low figure could be because people were waiting for the 2010 model release.
However, from January 2010 up to November 30th in 2010, a total of 32 Versy’s have been sold even with the release of the 2010 model.
There is talk of discontinuing the Versy in Australia as it seems the Australian buyer is not interested in the Versy and they can’t sell them. The Versy price in Australia is slightly higher than in Thailand but large discounts are offered by Kawasaki to move them so in some cases they are cheaper than in Thailand.

 

[KZ]

Comparing the size of the population when it comes to motorcycle sales doesn't make much sense; the point is how many people can afford a bike like the Ninja 250. Considering the low GNP of India I think it's quite a feat to sell 1,000 bikes which sell for about 5 or 6 times the price of an average 100-125cc bike on their market. To sell 2515 lil' Ninjas in Australia seems much easier than selling 1000 in India - in Australia it's a bargain beginner's bike which anybody can afford but it's an expensive luxury item in India.

Since Thailand's GNP is quite a bit higher than that of India the number of sold Ninjas here should be accordingly much higher, but they ain't.

The new CB250 will sell for a bit more than half of the price of the Ninja 250 in India.

 

[KZ]

A little research reveals that the GNP per capita in Australia is $19,213 US, ranking it #21 worldwide.
Thailand's GNP per capita is $1,838 US, ranking it #80 worldwide.
India's GNP per capita is only $441,37 US, ranking it #128 worldwide.

THEORETICALLY 1,000 Ninja sales in India amount to about 4,000 in Thailand and over 40,000 in Ozzieland.

 

[brian66]

KZ
I just thought 1000 bikes sounded a very small number for such a large population.
But you’re right in using the figures that you presented to give a comparison.
There are many people in India but the majority are poor. There is not that many people with spare money. So those that buy a 250 Ninja are probably the middle to upper class and most of those people would prefer a small car than buy a relatively expensive motor bike.
I lived in India for 7 months a number of years ago and I don’t think I ever saw a motorcycle larger than the 110 cc bikes and most if not all were in really terrible condition. Also the road surface conditions where I was located (Madras) were so poor the traffic was slow and forever winding their way around pit holes.
Not the place to be riding larger capacity road bikes. Good for Dual Purpose bikes though!!! But here were none of them either.

 

[KZ]

Things have changed a wee bit over there, now there are lots of 125, 150, 180 and 220cc bikes for sale. And Honda will offer the CB250, so the trend is towards small bikes with a few more cc's. Quite interesting what they sell these days, a plethora of small bikes, faired, half faired, even the new KTM 125 will be offered soon! They definitely have a better choice than we have in Thailand; also 350 and 500cc Enfields and surprisingly many 1000cc+ superbikes. But no Enduros!
Check out this 150cc Yamaha, it would sell over here, too! A simple air-cooled single, drum brakes in the rear, should make for a low price.

 

[nikster]

KZ wrote: A little research reveals that the GNP per capita in Australia is $19,213 US, ranking it #21 worldwide.
Thailand's GNP per capita is $1,838 US, ranking it #80 worldwide.
India's GNP per capita is only $441,37 US, ranking it #128 worldwide.

THEORETICALLY 1,000 Ninja sales in India amount to about 4,000 in Thailand and over 40,000 in Ozzieland.

Cool stuff, but let's adjust it for population as well as GDP. Oz: 21M, Thailand 67M, India 1155 M

Thailand has 4x the GDP and 1/17th of the population = 235 bikes

Oz has 47x the GDP and 1/55th of the population = 854 bikes

So I think 1000 is a respectable result, and probably a huge breakthrough result for a place like India where big bikes are not sold in large numbers. It's no coincidence Honda is bringing the CBR250 just at this time - they've clearly been monitoring the trend.

Anyway - the real way to compare these numbers would be (number of people with income level above X) where X is the income where buying a big bike becomes feasible. China is similar to India in this regard, 1Bn+ people, but more like 50M-100M people if you count only those with disposable income.

 

[TonyBKK]

KZ wrote:
Check out this 150cc Yamaha, it would sell over here, too! A simple air-cooled single, drum brakes in the rear, should make for a low price.

Prolly wouldn't pass that Thai emissions test... :roll:

:roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[KZ]

I came across the charming indian "Bike Advice" website and it's interesting to see what's developing motorcycle-wise in a relatively poor but fast-growing and very promising country. This month it seems that Yamaha is launching the FZ1 there, the third big bike, after the R1 and MT01. They don't expect lots of sales, only about 80-100 units, it's more for market presence and image.
"It seems that every month we will have a new sports bike launch. Recently Triumph motorcycle and BMW Motorrad confirmed India entry. Beside this Bajaj Auto is also planning to launch a bigger Ninja, before this financial year end."
"Aprilia will be bringing their new RSV4 Super bike to India in December 2010. As far as the sources go, Aprilia will be announcing the launch of their new super bike in December 2010."
"Indian automobile industry is set to touch sky high standards this December because much awaited BMW bikes are coming to India. Yes, BMW Motorrad is all set to come to India in the month of December 2010 with the first batch of its bikes coming to India in December 2010."
"It seems like India is going to become global hub of Super bike within next 10 to 20 years. After entry of Harley Davidson, BMW and Hyosung, UK based Triumph motorcycle is also planning to enter in Indian sports bike market."
"India’s second largest two wheeler manufacture Bajaj Auto raised its stake to 38.09% in Austria’s KTM Power Sports AG. KTM which is known for its off road motorcycles like Duke in European Market."
"Hero Honda: On the back of the festive season Hero Honda the world’s no.1 two wheeler company, has posted its highest ever monthly sales figure. Hero Honda total sales grew by massive 42.75% in October 2010 compared to October 2009. Total sales stood at 5,05,553 units of two wheelers in October 2010 compared to 3,54,156 units in October 2010. Hero Honda recorded sales of 4,35,990 units in May 2010 which was its previous highest monthly sales figure. This is by far highest ever monthly sales for any Indian two wheeler company till the date. The company also reported month on month basis sales growth of 16.58% due to festive season. Last month the company sold 4,33,641 units. The company sold 30,25,536 units during April 2010 to October 2010 up 13.89 % compared to 26,56,378 units in the same period last year."
(The way they write numbers is confusing, 505,553 units are written 5,05,553.)
"As the much awaited Korean manufacturer Hyosung launch is round the corner, People are waiting for the names of the bikes that is going to be launched in India. Now that it’s known that Hyosung is bringing their legendary GTR650R and ST7- FI to India as early as November 27th, 2010."

Looks like India is where the action is!

 

[KZ]

nikster, you're absolutely right, there are tons of factors to figure in, I just came up with the GNP to make my point.

 

[nikster]

500,000 bikes a month?

My head is spinning :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

Just out of interest KZ, are bikes taxed like in Thailand, e.g. imports are at least 2x the price in the west? We get all those bikes in Thailand too the only issue is the price...

 

[KZ]

I don't have exact info there but in one of the Honda CB250 articles it says that the new CB250 will be a bit over 1.5 lakh (the Ninja 250 sells for 3 lakh) since it'll be assembled there. Also a 110% figure was mentioned on fully assembled bikes.

"People close to development said “The FZ1 is priced cheaper than the Honda CB1000R, which is the cheapest imported superbike currently sold. The bike will be imported as CBU from Australia or Japan”. The company is also considering SKU route (Semi-knocked down route) for the FZ1 which will help to reduce price as CBU (completely built unit) route attracts 110% import duty in India."

 

[Maha]

For the bike sales numbers in Thailand, found a table from the latest Riding magazine (Thai Language). It shows bike sales numbers in Thailand (as sold units) for September 2010.

For Kawasaki it lists the following:
- Family 72 units (scooters?)
- Familysport 2 units (sport scooter???)
- Sport 87 units (maybe Er6, Ninja 250, 650, 1000, Versys)
- Off road 1478 units (maybe KLX125/250, D-tracker125/250, KSR)
- Other 3 units (maybe Vulcan??)

Attached files