Kawasaki Ninja H2 to reach Indian shore in 2015

The lesser powerful or street legal sibling of the mighty H2R – the Kawasaki Ninja H2 – will be launched in India early next year with a price tag of Rs. 26 lakhs.

On a lazy afternoon not so long ago, I had joked with a colleague saying how folks at Kawasaki are the most talented and also the most laidback. The logic was simple, they make one motorcycle that changes the way motorcycles across the world are looked at and then they sleep for years. I mean, they made the ZX-14 in 2005, which is being worshipped till date and slept, letting the world do whatever it wanted to do. Now when the motorcycling world was getting more and more populated with motorcycles trying to reach the 200bhp mark, Kawasaki engineers woke up one fine morning from the deep slumber and decided to make a motorcycle that would let them sleep for another two-three decades. Soon, a 300bhp machine rolled out with a supercharger in it which spins 1,30,000 times per minute. Soon, they realised this machine is like the Terminator movie series where a machine from the future has landed in the present trying to demoralise and kill the world. This is when they made the Kawasaki Ninja H2, a more sober version of the futuristic H2R and launched it in Milan at the EICMA a few weeks ago.

Now, to add more fuel to the spark, Kawasaki has confirmed that it will bring its Ninja H2 in India somewhere in March 2015 via the CBU route. The ex-showroom price will reach over Rs. 25 lakhs which makes it much more expensive then the Fireblades and the R1s available in the Indian market.  The motorcycle will be powered by a 998cc, liquid-cooled, supercharged inline-four engine churning out 197bhp at 11,000rpm and peak torque of 113.5Nm at 10,500rpm. The motorcycle will be offered with an option of Ram Air which increases the power output to 207bhp.

Whereas the H2R is an ardent fan of weight-loss, the H2 will come with a headlamp, turn indicators, tail lamp and rear view mirrors.

For our preview on the legendary Kawasaki Ninja H2R, which is also in our December issue