Japanese bike manufacturer Kawasaki recently launched a couple of new bikes at the EICMA 2023 alongside other companies such as Hero and Ultraviolette. The main highlight is the 500 cc siblings – the Ninja 500 and Z500, both of which will replace the Ninja 400 and Z400 at some point. There’s also a Hybrid motorcycle launched but we will get to that in a minute.
Kawasaki Ninja 500 and Z500 – Highlights
Coming back to the 500cc boys, the biggest and most obvious change is the engine. The new bikes will feature a 499cc parallel-twin engine, however, there’s no information yet on the exact power it churns out. But expect it to be under 47.6 PS (35kW) since Kawasaki stated that both the bikes will be A2 license-complaint. It will interesting to see how this engine faires against the old 399cc unit, in terms of efficiency and versatility.
The engine will be housed in Kawasaki’s trellis frame with Kawasaki’s reassurance that both the Ninja 500 and Z500 will provide good confident handling and approachable seat height which will also make these bikes accessible to beginners.
Both the bikes will also come feature-loaded such as all LED lighting, an LCD as standard with a TFT console as an option in the higher variants along with Bluetooth connectivity, a USB-C charging port and a keyless ignition.
Now with greater power and performance, comes a higher price so expect the Kawasaki 500 lineup to charge a premium over the 400s if the company brings it to our shores which is very much possible considering Kawasaki already has a lot of its global line-up on offer here such as the Ninja 400 and ZX-4R.
Kawasaki Z7 unveiled – The naked Hybrid
Keeping aside the 500 series now, Kawasaki also took the wraps off of the new Z7 Hybrid, which is the naked version of the Ninja 7 HEV, that was unveiled last month. The bike follows the same mean and aggressive styling of the other Z series and looks like an absolute unit.
Talking about the powertrain, the bike is powered by a 451cc parallel-twin engine with a 9kW traction motor that produces 58.5PS which can be increased to 69.5PS by the e-Boost feature. Also, similar to the 7 Hybrid this bike will have a performance identical to 650cc bikes but with the mileage of 250cc two-wheelers.
