Kawasaki's motorcycle sales volume FY 2014-2023

In the fiscal year 2023, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. sold approximately 444 thousand motorcycles worldwide. Sales decreased from around 555 thousand units in the previous fiscal year. The largest regional market was the Philippines, with unit sales of roughly 143 thousand in fiscal 2023.

What are Kawasaki‘s most popular motorcycles?

The Kawasaki Ninja is the company’s flagship motorcycle line. The famous Ninja is an aggressively styled range of road legal sports bikes, equipped with engines of any conventional cylinder capacity from around 250cc to 1400cc. Apart from the Ninja brand, the Ninja-derived Kawasaki Z model line sells in large numbers. The naked-bike brand is available from 125ccm to 1000ccm: The Z400 and the Z900RS/Café were bestsellers in their engine classes in 2021 and also scored highly in 2022. Kawasaki succeeds on the domestic market against its fellow Japanese manufacturers, especially with higher capacity bikes.

Domestic competitors lose Kawasaki with lighter two-wheelers

Unlike Kawasaki’s domestic motorcycle competitors (Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki), the company does not manufacture motor scooters and does not offer a great variety of motorcycles up to 125cc. Most of those are motocross bikes, highlighting the focus on the sports and leisure segment again. Consequently, Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki sell more motorcycles with smaller capacity engines (126cc to 250cc) in Japan. The Honda Rebel 250 was the most in-demand of those in 2022. Lighter mopeds with engines of 125ccm and below sell even better in Japan. However, Kawasaki’s focus is not surprising: its origins lie in heavy industry, after all.