The Kawasaki Ninja 400 is on sale in India at a rather steep price point of INR 4.69 lakhs (ex-showroom). There are not a lot of takers for the fully faired medium displacement Ninja in India, especially considering that the KTM RC 390 with comparable performance credentials retails at half the price. However, given that the premium motorcycle segment has been showing strong potential in the recent years, it is good to have products of any size at any price range.
The 2020 Kawasaki Ninja has been introduced in Japan and the company has used the model year update opportunity to offer new colour options. Kawasaki decided not to fiddle with the already sharp looking Ninja 400, so there are no changes to the bodywork.
For the 2020 model year, Kawasaki has given the Ninja 400 new grey-black colour theme with yellow ochre graphics, black-white colour theme with red graphics, and a revised KRT Edition (traditional Kawasaki green) with honeycomb graphics on the fairing panels and tinge of red on the fairing and engine cowl.
The Ninja 400 soldiers on without any mechanical changes. The fully faired motorcycle’s 398 cc parallel-twin liquid-cooled engine continues to dish out 47.5 bhp and 36 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox by means of a slipper clutch.
The medium displacement supersports motorcycle is held together by a trellis frame which is suspended by 41 mm telescopic fork and Uni-Trak rear monoshock. At 310 mm, the motorcycle gets the largest front disc brake in its class. The rear disc is a 220 mm unit. The Nissin ABS is claimed to be the most compact system available in the market.
Currently, the Kawasaki Ninja 400 for India is available only in the KRT colour theme. We hope that the company introduces the new colour themes in our market in the coming months.
At its price point, the Kawasaki Ninja 400 is not very far from the Benelli TNT 600i four-cylinder street fighter but it relies on the Ninja nameplate’s strong brand equity and a smooth Japanese powertrain to make a case for itself. If Kawasaki is planning on getting more competitive in India, local assembly with reasonable level of local content would be a good way to go.
