KAWASAKI'S SLOW LEARNING CURVE:

By Dreenka Dasani

Kawasaki has always been a little slow on the uptake. The green factory has always been happy to be a niche company with a smaller but rabid following. Perhaps it is not ironic that the best selling Kawasaki sports quad of all time happens to be a Suzuki. While KFX700 sales have inched ever up since 1994, the KFX400 sales have been steady and strong. Anyone at Suzuki will tell you that the z400 sales are what built the LT-R450. Sales have since leveled off accross the board with so many new models.

It's no secret that the Yamaha YFZ450, and Honda's 450R took huge chunks of sales away from the KFX/Z400 line since it's early years, but that's to be expected. And no doubt Suzuki's new LT-R450 will take even more. But the z400 has become the jack-of-all trades in the sport class. It's the quad that's smack on top of the 'ole 'bang-for-your-buck' catagory. Anyone who wants something quick and sporty with the reliability and ergonomics that are now what most sport quads strive to equal or better, has to consider the z400. The racers have the 450s, and the trail guys in large numbers still flock to the affordable z400 line, and in kind the KFX400.

I noticed that Kawasaki will pay out contigency to all racers except those on any form of KFX-Zuki. I think that's a little silly of them but maybe I'm being biased since I am a KFX400 owner. Now it seems that my Kawasaki dealer will no longer be supporting parts after the 2007 models are built and the alliance ends. I know this is common practice in the automotive industry to do this, so perhaps Kawasaki is following suit.

So basically Kawasaki is saying thanks for the cash, now take your green machine to the yellow shop.

I have no problem supporting Kawasaki for my Z400, they had a better deal on the green version. I wanted yellow but the yellow people were not so helpful or willing to work. I saved $500 buying the same machine 10 miles down the road, and I have no aversion to green.

But I guess Kawasaki doesn't mind me pulling off all my Kawasaki stickers and replacing them with Suzuki. Why advertise for them if they don't want us to? I know a lot of riders with KFX400s, probably almost as many as z400s, and a lot of those "Kawie" guys and gals support green. Imagine if everyone with a KFX400 went yellow, Suzuki would steal away a lot of cash flow sooner than expected.

It's all about perception, grass-roots advertising, people see a Kawasaki in your truck and like it, they go to the Kawasaki dealer to ask about it. Many of those people will never know it's a Suzuki, and because of it, less sales floor traffic will be generated at the yellow dealers. But if the stickers one everyones kfx said Suzuki, and the big sticker in the window said SUZUKI, and the drivers jacket said.....you guessed it........ SUZUKI..... It's a win-win situation for the dealers with the yellow bikes.

It only makes sense for Kawasaki to take advantage of this. If everyone who drives a Ford Contour ripped off the Ford emblems and repalced them with Mazda tags, I'm sure the guys in the office at the Blue Oval would probably be irked somewhat. With Kawasaki refusing to pay contingency to anyone on a KFX400, they are forcing eveyone to race a Suzuki.

So are we KFX400 owners just supposed to buy Suzuki stickers? Are we to stop telling people we ride a Kawasaki? Are we just suppose to assume that Kawasaki wanted our money but didn't really want us as customers? Or are we to assume that they didn't invest anything in the KFX400, so they don't care if anyone knows where you bought it?

Maybe after the KFX450 and the Mojave Sport 400 come out Kawasaki will recapture the sport quad world like they did when the Tecate came out.......well wait....I've only ever seen like three of those....well maybe it was when the Mojave 250 hit the.......well.............er.....when............ well perhaps the truth is that the best period in Kwasaki sport quads really started when they started selling green and orange z400s.

FIN

 

Wow. That sucks if your dealer won't be supporting the 400's after '07. I can kind of see the reasoning though, since Kawie doesn't actually produce anything on the Z quads that I know of. How can they stock something they don't produce? I would still think your dealer could get parts through a 3rd party distributor though... As for the contingency, yeah, that is pretty dumb of them.

 

If your dealer is anything like the ones we have around here, they are pretty useless anyways. I've taken to fixing my own machines. I think at this point I know more than the dealer, and if I don't, you guys do. And you can pretty much hang the warranties in the bathroom. That's the only place they have any purpose. A little rough though.

 

With all the good that Bubba Stuart is doing for Kawi in the public eye with his performances in racing I'd think that Kawi would want to try and strengthen their foothole in the market. Granted, we're talking quads here. But correct me if I'm wrong, most familys that buy quads usually have a dirt bike or two as well, so correlation is there.

Maybe this could still be fallout between zuki and kawi breaking ties... who knows..... but guess who is still left between a rock and a idiot at the parts counter... we are....

I never liked the green plastics anyways....

 

That is truly amazing. I wonder if any other models are affected the same way.

 

Maybe they are dropping it to make plans for thier own quad? Kawi profits can't be nearly as much as it would if they produced their own bike, so now they probably have copied every aspect of the 400 and might be making a new one that is strictly Kawi...Just a thought.