Officially Official: 2013 Kawasaki Z800

If we had to summarize Kawasaki’s new model philosophy, it would have to be with the old tuner’s phrase that “there is no replacement for displacement.” Bumping the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R from 599cc back to its odd 636cc figure from 2003-2006, Team Green has also trumped the quarter-liter market with the debut of the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300, a peppier clone of the Kawasaki Ninja 250R world-model that debuted last month (it looks like North American will have to make do with the mundane and carb’d version of the Ninja 250R, sad trombone).

While we expect to see a bevy of new Kawasaki’s later next week, one bike we don’t expect to see is the 2013 Kawasaki Z800, which just officially debuted in Europe. We were on vacation when some Thai readers leaked the first images of the Kawasaki Z800 in our comments section, luckily other publications read our site and picked up the story. You have probably already seen the photos, but just in case they are in a gallery after the jump.

Kawasaki isn’t saying too much officially, beyond the usual hyperbole of course, but it is obvious that the 2013 Kawasaki Z800 is a punched out version of the Kawasaki Z750 (a model we don’t get here in North America). Basically a 806cc version of the 748cc inline-four model, with virtually the same bodywork, Kawasaki is quoting more torque and horsepower from the Z800, but isn’t tipping any actual numbers just yet.

Creeping in on the terrain of the Kawasaki Z1000, it will be interesting to see whether Kawasaki follow’s Yamaha’s example, and deems the 800cc & 1,000cc models different enough to bring them both to North America together (e.g. Yamaha FZ8 & Yamaha FZ1), or if the Kawasaki Z800 remains a strictly European affair.

Expect the full details of the 2013 Kawasaki Z800 to hit the interwebs by October 2nd, or earlier if we have our say in it.