With the deadline for strict BS6 emission norms inching closer, car and bike manufacturers have to make tough decisions. Now, Kawasaki has decided to discontinue the Ninja 300 in India. Kawasaki retails the Ninja 300 at an affordable price with a BS4 engine in the Indian market, but since this product is already nearing the end of its life cycle, the Japanese manufacturer might find it difficult to justify the amount of investment required to match the bike to BS6 standards. So the Kawasaki Ninja 300 might remain on sale till the end of March 2020. However, it is unclear if Kawasaki might decide to introduce the BS6 compliant Ninja 300 for India. There is also a possibility that the Ninja 250 which is sold abroad could make it to India or the Ninja 400 could be locally assembled with a BS6 motor. Production of the BS4 Ninja 300 have been stopped.
Currently, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 is priced at INR 2.98 lakh ex-showroom. The Ninja 300 sold in India is now an outdated motorcycle, while the Ninja 250 & Ninja 400 look much similar, even similar to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. These bikes feature LED headlamps, LED tail lamps, digital + analogue speedo cluster, full size upswept exhaust, clear front windscreen, old-school box type swingarm, slipper assist clutch, split-seat design, clip-on handlebars, etc.
The current Kawasaki Ninja 300 is powered by a 296cc, parallel-twin, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke motor producing 39 PS of power and 27 Nm of torque matched to a 6-speed gearbox. The Ninja 250 abroad though makes the same 39 PS of power with a smaller engine. The Ninja 400 on the other hand produces 49 PS of power.
The Ninja 300 if updated to BS6 emission norms could cost nearly INR 20,000 more than the BS4 counterpart. If the Ninja 400 is locally assembled with a few parts made in India, the pricing could be brought down by a huge margin. But it remains to be seen what is the strategy that Kawasaki goes with to introduce a new best selling motorcycle in their showrooms.