Sales of Kawasaki motorbikes in the UAE doubled in the first four months of 2014 compared to the corresponding period last year, driven by robust demand for high-performance motorbikes as lifestyle products. Liberty Automobiles, the exclusive UAE dealer for the Kawasaki range of motorcycles, quads, utility vehicles and jetskis, reported that sales of quad bikes and jet-skis also doubled in the same quarter.

This is mostly due to growing enthusiasm among UAE’s rapidly expanding motorcycling community for Kawasaki’s high-performance bikes. Factors like traffic congestion and shortage of parking spaces have prompted more people to embrace the leisure biking culture, particularly in winter months when some bikers even commute to their workplaces on their motorcycles.

In a bid to boost the growth of Kawasaki business in the UAE, Liberty Group Chairman Sheikh Khalid Abdul Aziz Al Qasimi has appointed Koji Yabuguchi, a veteran with 25 years of experience with various departments of Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan, to head the Kawasaki division as General Manager.

Yabuguchi said that Kawasaki bikes have also attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies. Test rides and technical inspections on the Kawasaki Concours-1400 fully-modified Police Bikes have been carried out by some law enforcement agencies in the UAE for potential deployment in their fleet.