[TusharK]

Kawasaki has issued a recall for the Z900 in India due to a faulty tie-rod bracket.



According to Kawasaki, the holes in the tie-rod frame mount for the rear shock absorber are found to elongate if the suspension bottoms out, which can cause the rear suspension to fail completely. In all, 132 Z900s of a specific series sold in India have been affected. These bikes were manufactured in Thailand and imported as completely built units (CBUs). Moreover, it has affected Z900s sold in the international markets as well.

The company has already shared a list of Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) of the bikes that are affected by this recall. Kawasaki service centers have been notified to carry out inspections and will be replacing the faulty brackets free of cost. The tie-rod frame mount will also be replaced if required. It will take around 50 minutes to get these replaced.

Source: NDTV

Link to Team-BHP News

[bikerzindia]

A good wake up call for the company which says "We are God, we can never be wrong, its always the rider's fault and our quality is the best"!! Please don't mind my love oozing for Kawasaki. But I must say it is surprising that they have recalled the bikes sold in India too. Earlier when such incidents came to light about a luxury 4 wheeler brand about a recall of SUVs, they never did a recall on the ones sold in India though they did it in other countries being manufactured in the same facility.

[Red Liner]

Good to see kawasaki doing the right thing here as opposed to how triumph handled their stalling fiasco and harley with their braking shenanigans.

I do see some sliver of improvements since bajaj washes their hands off kawasaki. Will wait and watch.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I do see some sliver of improvements since bajaj washes their hands off kawasaki. Will wait and watch.

The aggression from the company front has certainly gone up by multiple folds. More CKD bikes, aggressive pricing, rapid network expansion etc.

What they really need to focus on now is the customer experience - and there are positive signs of that too with recalls, goodwill warranty, RSA plans etc. Time to crack the whip on erring dealers too.

[VW2010]

Please don't mind my love oozing for Kawasaki. But I must say it is surprising that they have recalled the bikes sold in India too.

Guess it had to do with the part that is failing. The cost of replacing this part at the initial 140 odd bikes is far cheaper than replacing the suspension set up and what not.

I guess its a financially wise decision to correct it now and do a good will service clean up, chain lube and brake pad checks.

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Good to see kawasaki doing the right thing here as opposed to how triumph handled their stalling fiasco and harley with their braking shenanigans.

I do see some sliver of improvements since bajaj washes their hands off kawasaki. Will wait and watch.

My thoughts are that its more to do with sales numbers than the break up with Bajaj. Also it could be that they need an image makeover & with the break up they can push all the blame on Bajaj & start afresh (Atleast so they maybe thinking).

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The aggression from the company front has certainly gone up by multiple folds. More CKD bikes, aggressive pricing, rapid network expansion etc.

What they really need to focus on now is the customer experience - and there are positive signs of that too with recalls, goodwill warranty, RSA plans etc. Time to crack the whip on erring dealers too.

Aggression is all because of the dwindling sales figures while competitors are steady with their foothold. Hope it works in favour for Kawasaki Owners. Like VW2010 said its more of a financial calculation than anything else maybe as they expected that part to fail miserably (Or maybe they would have already received complaints) else they would have taken chance of passing it on. RSA happening from Kawasaki? I thought it was only from Delhi dealer's end.

Originally Posted by VW2010

Guess it had to do with the part that is failing. The cost of replacing this part at the initial 140 odd bikes is far cheaper than replacing the suspension set up and what not.

I guess its a financially wise decision to correct it now and do a good will service clean up, chain lube and brake pad checks.

Completely agree and I also think that is to better their image & after the Bajaj divorce & remarriage of Bajaj with Triumph.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Guess it had to do with the part that is failing. The cost of replacing this part at the initial 140 odd bikes is far cheaper than replacing the suspension set up and what not.

I guess its a financially wise decision to correct it now and do a good will service clean up, chain lube and brake pad checks.

Very valid point. Makes sense.

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

Aggression is all because of the dwindling sales figures while competitors are steady with their foothold.

Sales dwindling against competition? Thats far from the reality and not what the numbers say. Below were the sales of premium motorcycles in October 2017 (Source - Autopunditz) -

Harley Davidson - 255 (Down 15% YOY)
Kawasaki - 184 (Up 35.3% YOY)
Triumph - 94 (Up 3.3% YOY)
Suzuki - 28 (21 last year)
Honda - 19 (12 units last year)
Yamaha - 0

Situation is likely to improve IMO, with models like the X300 (Wont sell in volumes for sure though) and the upcoming Z900RS. Ninja 1000 could do better numbers as well, and is mainly limited by the CKD kits available - waiting period is well over 4 months in cities like Bangalore and the dealer was mentioning loss of bookings due to this factor.

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

RSA happening from Kawasaki? I thought it was only from Delhi dealer's end.

It is not limited to Delhi, though it looks like the Delhi dealership was the first to introduce the program. Has already been purchased from the Bangalore and Hyderabad dealerships as well.

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Sales dwindling against competition? Thats far from the reality and not what the numbers say. Below were the sales of premium motorcycles in October 2017 (Source - Autopunditz) -

Harley Davidson - 255 (Down 15% YOY)
Kawasaki - 184 (Up 35.3% YOY)
Triumph - 94 (Up 3.3% YOY)
Suzuki - 28 (21 last year)
Honda - 19 (12 units last year)
Yamaha - 0

Situation is likely to improve IMO, with models like the X300 (Wont sell in volumes for sure though) and the upcoming Z900RS. Ninja 1000 could do better numbers as well, and is mainly limited by the CKD kits available - waiting period is well over 4 months in cities like Bangalore and the dealer was mentioning loss of bookings due to this factor.

Well it actually depends on the product portfolio as well as what a company is concentrating on & if it is selling the higher end motorcycles just as add on with minting money through sales of other products. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, have products to bank on, not the same with Triumph, Harley, Kawasaki, Ducati etc. Harley has mostly had numbers over 175-200 consistently (mostly) and Kawasaki's numbers have rarely touched 200 mark. So for their survival & expansion after the breakup, I am sure with numbers around 100 or less, survival for Kawasaki is going to be very difficult. The same may have led to the marriage/ live-in of Triumph with Bajaj .

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

Well it actually depends on the product portfolio as well as what a company is concentrating on & if it is selling the higher end motorcycles just as add on with minting money through sales of other products. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, have products to bank on, not the same with Triumph, Harley, Kawasaki, Ducati etc. Harley has mostly had numbers over 175-200 consistently (mostly) and Kawasaki's numbers have rarely touched 200 mark. So for their survival & expansion after the breakup, I am sure with numbers around 100 or less, survival for Kawasaki is going to be very difficult. The same may have led to the marriage/ live-in of Triumph with Bajaj .

Valid point there that these independant superbike companies need to survive on their own, with the lesser numbers. Accepted that. But I'm wondering how you assume that the survival for Kawasaki is proving to be difficult, whereas you paint rosier pictures for HD and Triumph.

To make it simpler - Here's a chart for the last six months of sales. HD represents the green line thats slowly going downwards, Triumph represents the orange line thats at the bottom, and Kawasaki is the blue line that is climbing up slowly. High chances that if one of these companies can't survive - the others might not survive either as the number don't really differ by a huge number anyways. But then, I would give the one with the rising graph a chance. Specially when -

1. Have made an impressive recovery after having to start fresh less than a year ago.
2. Launched a good lineup and refreshed the oldies.
3. Have future products coming up, including the retro segment which is a hot seller in India.
4. Are in the process of doubling the network coverage from 12 to 23, which should show up in the numbers soon.
5. Have a demand greater than supply on some of their products.

So, as I said earlier, the below statement doesn't hold ground with respect to actual numbers.

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

Aggression is all because of the dwindling sales figures while competitors are steady with their foothold.

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

But I'm wondering how you assume that the survival for Kawasaki is proving to be difficult, whereas you paint rosier pictures for HD and Triumph.

To make it simpler - Here's a chart for the last six months of sales. HD represents the green line thats slowly going downwards, Triumph represents the orange line thats at the bottom, and Kawasaki is the blue line that is climbing up slowly. High chances that if one of these companies can't survive - the others might not survive either as the number don't really differ by a huge number anyways. But then, I would give the one with the rising graph a chance. Specially when -

First of all I am not trying to paint a rosy picture for anyone. I think you missed the point about Triumph where I said low numbers could be one of the reasons for their marriage/live-in arrangement with Bajaj.

Well with Harley even though the numbers maybe declining, they are way above in terms of sales numbers over Kawasaki or anybody else (as per your own numbers) We may also have to consider the kind of investments they have made or plan & overheads they are having & their long term strategies(which we are unaware of).

Harley has about 2/3rds & Triumph as of now has about 1/2 the number of showrooms of what Kawasaki now has or planned . Will the expansion translate into numbers? Only time will tell.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

First of all I am not trying to paint a rosy picture for anyone. I think you missed the point about Triumph where I said low numbers could be one of the reasons for their marriage/live-in arrangement with Bajaj.

Well thats a very restrained way to look at it. A couple of hundred bike sales in India will never be the reason for such a global alliance.

Reason for the alliance is simple as clearly explained by the two companies. Bajaj wants a lineup to take on the likes of Harley and Royal Enfields. He has left no stones unturned in letting the world know that they are going directly at that segment - a strategy that didn't work previously with Dominar.

And Triumph wants a new entry level portfolio build at Chakan. A partnership to benefit both parties across markets worldwide similar to Bajaj - KTM and TVS - BMW ones. The bikes are scheduled to roll out by end 2020.

Anyways, since we are deviating from the topic with every post, might as well leave the relevant link for the discussion - if you still wish to continue so there.

1. KTM - Bajaj partnerhsip (Bajaj announces partnership with Triumph Motors!)

2. Kawasaki Bajaj Split. (Bajaj-Kawasaki to break sales & service tie-up from April 2017)