GURUN: After three years of planning, negotiations and certification, a premium sport bike from Kawasaki Heavy Industries' global lineup that is assembled here has made it to China.
The export of the Kawasaki ZX-6R from Modenas' plant at Gurun marks a new high for the assembly plant that has existed for nearly three decades.
Negotiations with Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan began in 2021, before the matter was brought before Chinese regulators, said Modenas' CEO, Roslan Roskan.
He was speaking to the media during a specially arranged visit to the Modenas plant here on Tuesday (May 28), where he officiated the sending off of the third batch of ZX6-R for export to China.
The plant here, with three lines dedicated to Kawasaki products, has been quietly assembling the ZX6-R since the end of last year, testament to the ability of the local workforce to meet Kawasaki's exacting demands for this important bike in its 600cc lineup.
Each export ZX6-R is tested thoroughly for things like engine output and braking performance before it leaves the assembly plant.
Greece was the first overseas market for this plant tucked away in a quiet corner of Kedah. Since then, Modenas, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Bhd, has hit 10 foreign markets with more than 90,000 two-wheelers with various engine capacities.
DRB-Hicom holds 70% of Modenas shares, with the balance held by KHI Japan.
The first shipment of 28 ZX-6Rs arrived at Shanghai in April, followed by a second shipment of 140 units in early May, followed by 112 units towards the end of May.
On whether this locally-assembled ZX6-R will be made available to the local market, Roslan said some development towards this can be expected by next year, without specifying an exact timeline.
On Kawasaki China's website, the ZX6-R's suggested retail price is 109,800rmb or RM71,381.
Guests were invited to see how the fluids of the ZX-6R were filled, in this case, the brake fluid.
The export bikes that passed QC are then packed in crates before being loaded into containers.
