Kawasaki Z250 naked roadster discontinued in India

Kawasaki India’s entry-level model, the Z250, has gone missing from the company’s website, thus hinting that the Japanese brand has discontinued the product in our market. The company’s Indian website now lists the Z650 as the entry-level model, followed by Z900, Z900RS, Z1000 and Z1000R.

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The Kawasaki Z250 suffered from lacklustre sales. In fact, the company sold its last Z250 in the Indian market in June 2018. The sales have remained NIL ever since.

Kawasaki may replace the Z250 with the Z300, or bring the more premium Z400 in India to fill the void in its portfolio and compete with the likes of the BMW G 310 R and the KTM 390 Duke among others. Do note that the Kawasaki Z300 and Z400 are already available for sale in the international markets.

The Z300, if launched, will share its engine and hardware specifications with the Ninja 300. Kawasaki’s heavily localised Ninja 300 retails at INR 2.98 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The localisation of components has also resulted in a massive drop in the prices of the spares. Kawasaki may adopt a similar strategy with the Z300.

The engine specifications of the Z300 will include a 296 cc in-line twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor that delivers 39 PS of peak power at 11,000 rpm and 27 Nm of max torque at 10,000 rpm. The engine, like that of the fully-faired Ninja 300, will be paired with a six-speed transmission.

As for the Kawasaki Z400, key features include LED headlight, upright ergonomics, petal-type disc brake on both wheels and dual-channel ABS. Mechanical specifications are identical to the Ninja 400 sold in India. The naked roadster draws 49 PS of power and 38 Nm of torque from the 399 cc in-line twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor, which is linked to a six-speed transmission.

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The Z400, if launched, will carry a premium price tag and thus may not attract as much attention as Kawasaki may like. For reference, the Ninja 400 retails at INR 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) – which is INR 2.01 lakh more than the Ninja 300. The Z300, on the other hand, can help the Japanese two-wheeler brand to further boost its sales in the Indian market.