TMC blog, an Indonesian automotive portal has published excerpts from an interview with Mr. Michael Tanadhi, Deputy Head of Sales and Promotion PT Kawasaki Motor Indonesia. There he confirmed that the Japanese brand is currently scouring for opportunities to develop a new four-cylinder quarter-liter, and we believe it will be a fully faired sportbike category.

When Kawasaki launched the brand-new 2018 Ninja 400, I thought someone there lost their nuts. Apparently, the 400 is here to replace the Ninja 300 as the entry-level fully-faired sportsbike from the Japanese Green Team, and this did not make much sense to me then.

Who in their right mind would keep a 45 hp 400cc machine to lure new customers who still have some teenage left to discover?

But now, looks like someone finally screwed back their nuts and the firm is now planning to bring back the sweet-four with a new 250cc motorcycle. This will then officially be the new entry-level cadre.

As a matter of fact, these speculations are running from the past couple of years when Yamaha had launched the R25 into the market. Instead of updating the Ninja 250, Kawasaki scrapped it and replaced it with a new Ninja 300.

Maybe now we know why they swapped the 250 with the 300, and that with the 400. Kawasaki is building a four-cylinder power mill to go against the Honda CBR 250RR and the Yamaha R25, and looking at the Ninja H2, it seems like the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer is again approaching things differently, one that is radical, yet fresh and exciting.

Back in the 80s', Kawasaki had a four-cylinder quarter-liter that ran on the streets from 1989 until 1990’s which was replaced by the Kawasaki Ninja 250rr, one that used two cylinders. It used a 249cc inline-four cylinder, liquid cooled, 16 valve engine with Dual Over Head Camshaft (DOHC). Running a compression ratio of 12.2:1, this engine produced 46 hp max power and 19 lb-ft peak torque.

Think of these numbers running on a Kawasaki in today’s age and it could bring havoc to the reigns of the R25 and the likes of the CBRs’. But that said, all the Japanese brands back in the days had a four-stroke motorcycle that produced close to 45 hp that could cross the 125 mph mark and redline at a blasting 19000 rpm.

Michael says “a four-cylinder Ninja 250 is still in the stage SURVEY. We are collecting data to source it from, everything including marketing, and pricing is being considered”.

Hopefully, we get to see this quarter-liter later this year at the EICMA or the INTERMOT. And I really hope they make this into production.

REFERENCE

Kawasaki Ninja 400

Honda CBR 250RR

Yamaha R25