Is this the beginning of the end?

End of Kawasaki jetski's in New Zealand?

Earlier this year Kawasaki Japan shut down their NZ distributor and moved the NZ parts supply to Australia. It's a common strategy for many companies. But Kawasaki didn't even say goodbye. Just closed the NZ distributor, effectively cancelling the few remaining jetski service agents who had parts accounts. Including us.

For us personally it has been easy to ditch the Kawasaki work. In the 2023/24 financial year, Kawasaki servicing represented less than 0.25% of our total revenue. A graphic representation of their market share in NZ. And it appears to be a similar situation at their most recent Auckland dealer, now reportedly no longer servicing due to a "parts supply issue".

Who does that leave in NZ? As far as we can tell; 1 North Island dealer and 1 South Island dealer. Needless to say there has already been a few surprised green machine owners who are shocked by the lack of brand support.

From the beginning in 1972, with the registered trademark "Jet Ski", Kawasaki had world wide production to themselves until the late 1980's. After 53 years, is this the beginning of the end? It happened to Polaris and Honda.

We've now also updated our NZ Top Picks List for used jetski purchasing to reflect this information. This list accompanies our Buyers Guide and is a valuable read for those entering the PWC owners family.