Times news network

Kawasaki makes India hub for bikes

January 11, 2006

NEW DELHI: Japan's Kawasaki has joined the bandwagon of global automobile majors rushing to make India the low-cost vehicle production hub. Bajaj Auto vice chairman Madhur Bajaj said kawasaki has decided to make India the sole production and sourcing hub for sub-150cc motorcycles.

"Kawasaki is very big in Japan with its larger bikes. So, they have decided to concentrate on producing the larger bikes, while shifting the production of smaller bikes entirely to India," Bajaj said.

These motorcycles will be manufactured at Bajaj Auto's Aurangabad unit for serving the worldwide Kawasaki sales network in addition to the Indian market. "Our bikes meet the quality standards set by Kawasaki, besdies providing them economies of scale.

This is the reason Kawasaki has decided to make India the hub for smaller bikes," he added.

Kawasaki is the latest global major to make India the sourcing hub for low cost vehicles. Prior to this, Suzuki and Hyundai have made India the production hub for their small cars, which are sourced and marketed in the world markets, including Europe and North America.

Meanwhile, sources pointed out that Bajaj Auto is gearing up to establish assembly bases in four overseas destinations, including Iran and Brazil. The firm is already in the process of setting up a JV in Nigeria with one of its vendors --the Lakhani family --to make high-powered motorcycles.

The firm has also developed a new high-powered commuter bike specially for Nigeria keeping the local market requirements in mind.  

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