Team Green surprised us last year, announcing the Kawasaki Ninja 400 sport bike as a successor for the still fresh Ninja 300. For bonus points, Kawasaki brought the Ninja 400 to the US market, where it has displaced its smaller rivals (do you see what we did there??).
Now it seems that Kawasaki is ready to bring another 400cc sport bike to market, as a filing with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) tip-off the upcoming Kawasaki Ninja ER400DK.
In Kawasaki-speak, the “ER” designation has been used for many of the company’s naked motorcycles over the years, so putting two and two together, logic would dictate that a naked version of the Ninja 400 is on its way for the 2019 model year.
Looking at the emission results from CARB, the 399cc parallel-twin engine is unchanged for its naked application in what surely will be called the Kawasaki Z400. This means too that power should be around 45hp, and we doubt that the curb weight will be far from the 366 lbs that is quoted for the Ninja 400.
Most importantly, the 2019 Kawasaki Z400 will fill an important hole in Kawasaki’s lineup, helping to bridge the gap between the Z125 Pro and the Z650. This not only helps graduate new riders through the Kawasaki ranks, but also provides an entry point for new riders who don’t want a bike with the sporty look that comes with full fairings.
The CARB filings proves that we will see the Z400 in the US market next year, and we would expect the model to sell wherever the Ninja 400 is already. Expect to see the Kawasaki Z400 debut at either the INTERMOT or EICMA shows, later this year.
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