Kawasaki Ninja 500 price story is the same as the older Ninja 400. The Jap is hoping that the bigger ‘500’ tag will help it find some takers..
Just as I did a story yesterday about the ideal price point for the Ninja 500, Kawasaki officially announced the motorcycle for our market; however, at an unrealistic price tag, yet again!
It appears that Kawasaki is happy selling a handful of its mid capacity Ninja 500s in the Indian market, just like the Ninja 400 – which was also plagued by an astronomical price tag – despite being a fantastic motorcycle. Its monthly sales were in single and double digits only and a similar fate can be predicted for the 500 – which is also based on the same motorcycle.
The Ninja 500 comes with a 451cc, liquid cooled, parallel twin engine – which is derived from the 400’s mill. It has a bigger stroke of 58.6mm as compared to 51.8 mm of the 400. As a result of this increment in displacement, at 42.6 Nm, peak torque is 5.6 Nm higher – and it comes at 6000 rpm – full 2000 rpm earlier. The max power of 45 PS has been retained, however, it also peaks 1000 rpm earlier. This suggests that we are looking at a motorcycle which should be more usable in mid-revs and may not have the peaky power of the Ninja 400.
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The Ninja 500 continues with a 6 speed transmission and weighs 171 kilos, which makes it about 3 kilo heavier than the sibling 400!
Kawasaki Ninja 500 Price
| Ninja 500 | Rs 5.24 Lac |
The Ninja 500, which is brought to India as a CBU, has been priced exactly the same as the outgoing Ninja 400 and it is being offered in the base variant – which comes in an all black color theme. This means that it is costlier than its direct rival Aprilia RS457 by whopping Rs 1.14 Lac and the single cylinder RC390 by 2.06 Lacs. It is, in fact, costlier than even the ridiculously priced Yamaha R3 by Rs 59,000!
Kawasaki believes that with that bigger ‘500’ tag (at the same price of the 400), the Ninja 500 may attract more buyers. If this will happen or not will only be known in the months to come.
