Kawasaki Z250 Discontinued; Z400 On The Cards?

With the quarter-litre motorcycle out of the reckoning, is Kawasaki planning to bring the naked 400cc motorcycle? 

• The Kawasaki Z250 has been discontinued due to poor sales.
• Kawasaki could bring in the bigger Z400 by the end of this year.
• The Z400 was first unveiled at the 2018 EICMA show in Milan, Italy.

Back in 2014, Kawasaki had launched the then much-anticipated quarter-litre motorcycle, the Z250, in India at a mind-boggling price of Rs 2.99 lakh (ex-showroom). Even though the Z250 was an exciting motorcycle, it was never a chartbuster owing to its expensive price tag. To put things into perspective, the heavily localised Ninja 300 is Rs 10,000 more affordable than the Z250! And that’s the reason why Kawasaki has finally decided to pull the plug on its 250cc naked motorcycle and unlisted it from its official website. 

So what could Kawasaki bring to our shores that could possibly fill the gap left by the Z250? We assume it could be the Kawasaki Z400. The Japanese manufacturer first showcased the Z400 at the 2018 EICMA and since then, it has intrigued a lot of motorcycle enthusiasts, including us, of course!

Essentially, the Z400 is a Ninja 400 sans fairing. It is powered by the same 399cc, parallel-twin motor as the Ninja 400 and it is likely to be offered in the same state of tune as well - 49PS of power and 38Nm of torque at 8000rpm. Like the Ninja 400, the Z400 features a conventional telescopic fork at the front and a monoshock at the rear. 

Currently, there’s no official word from Kawasaki, but we expect it to launch the Z400 in India by the end of 2019. It is likely to be priced around Rs 50,000 lesser than its fully faired cousin, which retails at Rs 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). When launched, it will go up against the BMW G 310 R and the KTM 390 Duke.