250cc price war heats up
Kawasaki fires back at Honda as the Japanese brands trade blows in an emerging price war, but the winner will be the consumerWhen Honda launched its new CBR250R priced at $5490 ($5990 for the ABS model) early in 2011, the $7499 Kawasaki Ninja 250R looked positively overpriced. Not wanting to lose its crown as Australia's highest selling motorcycle, Kawasaki has shown its hand and dropped the price of not only its top-selling Ninja 250R, but a range of other models as it fires a warning shot over its rivals' heads.
The most important price rollback is for the cash cow, the Ninja 250R, which is now a whopping $1500 cheaper, down to $5999 from $7499.
Normally there are no winners in a war, but prices dropping and deals improving, the consumer will be the winner of this particular price war.
Kawasaki Australia released a media statement reading: "Kawasaki is reacting to current market activities with the announcement of these substantial price rollbacks. The price reductions show that Kawasaki is leading the way in making quality motorcycle and ATV products more accessible to the Australian public."
Read between the lines there and Kawasaki is really saying "Honda tried to undercut us, and we've responded. You want a price war, you got it!!"
The press statement continues: "Australia’s highest selling motorcycle, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R is now even more appealing thanks to a substantial $1,500 price rollback effective immediately. The price rollback is applicable to both the Ninja 250R and Ninja 250R Special Edition."
Sales of the Honda CBR250R are not yet available but it will be very interesting to see which of the two entry-level sports bikes comes out on top. It's likely the Ninja will retain the crown by virtue of its proven sales performance, but if the 250cc Honda can gets bums on seats for test rides, the Thai-built bike could begin eating into Kawasaki's market share as we head towards the 2011/2012 summer.
Kawasaki has also fired a number of pre-emptive artillery rounds in the price war, dropping prices on its Ninja 650R ABS and its learner-legal Ninja 650RL ABS, which have been reduced by $1000 apiece, and the same reduction applies to the ER-6n ABS and the Versys ABS (and their learner-legal variants, the ER-6nL ABS and Versys 650L ABS).
Even the the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R is priced $1,000 lower at $14,999, and the KLR650 adventure tourer has had $500 slashed from its sticker price.
The full range of Kawasaki motorcycles involved in the price rollback are listed below. Honda, it's your move...
- Ninja 250R $1,500 price rollback. Was $7,499 RRP now $5,999
- Ninja 250R Special Edition $1,500 price rollback. Was $7,699 RRP now $6,199
- Ninja 650R ABS (incl 650RL) $1,000 price rollback. Was $10,999 RRP now $9,999
- ER-6n ABS (incl ER-6nL) $1,000 price rollback. Was $10,499 RRP now $9,499
- Versys ABS (incl 650RL) $1,000 price rollback. Was $11,999 RRP now $10,999
- Ninja ZX-6R $1,000 price rollback. Was $15,999 RRP now $14,999
- KLR650 $500 price rollback. RRP was $8,499 RRP now $7,999
- KFX90 $400 price rollback. RRP was $3,899 RRP now $3,499
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