Interesting news from Kawasaki India. As it stands, Kawasaki W800 has been temporarily removed from the brand’s Indian website. As of now, there’s no official statement from the Kawasaki India officials. Thus, without any official statement, we cannot make any claims.
With the OBD2 compliance norms kicking in, we are witnessing a peculiar trend in the Indian two-wheeler market. There has been a slight shift as all internal combustion engines are now required to meet the OBD2 compliance norms. Thus, manufacturers need to equip their motorcycles/scooters with OBD2 sensors. This will help to monitor real-time emissions over the lab-drawn results. So, maybe this is one of the reasons why Kawasaki decided to pull the plug on the W800.
In addition to this, we do not even have any news from the dealer sources. Anyway, the W800’s demand was not very high and thus the sales figures won’t hurt Kawasaki much. Hence, given the low demand, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Kawasaki finally plans to retail only the W175 in India going forward. In fact, Kawasaki even offered a massive discount of INR 1.25 lakhs to boost the sales of the W800. But as it stands, the sales for the W800 stand abysmally low.
Lastly, taking into consideration the rivals in the retro-styled motorcycle in the same category. There are plenty of good options well within a good price range. This includes the Triumph Bonneville T100 and the T120. Both retailed significantly higher than the last known price of the W800, which was at INR 7.3 lakh. In fact, customers can also look at the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. This is an affordable alternative in the same class, coming from a reputable brand name like Royal Enfield.
Also Read: INR 50,000 discount on Kawasaki Z650 in India.