Kawasaki Ninja 400 Replaced With All-New Ninja 500 in India

Kawasaki announced the discontinuation of the popular Ninja 400 in India, replacing it with the larger and feature-rich Ninja 500. While the Ninja 400 garnered praise for its performance and design, its pricing strategy ultimately led to its exit.

Pricing Hurdle

The Kawasaki Ninja 400's main drawback was its price at ₹5.19 lakh (ex-showroom,Delhi). Unlike its predecessor, the Ninja 300, which benefited from local production, the Ninja 400 was imported as a Completely Built Unit (CBU). This resulted in a higher price tag, making it less competitive in the Indian market. Given how price sensitive the Indian market is and the fact that there were affordable options such as the TVS Apache RR 310 and the KTM RC 390, the writing was on the wall for the Ninja 400 ever since it made its debut. By positioning the Ninja 500 as a more premium bike and the fact that it has a displacement advantage over its single-cylinder rivals, Kawasaki is now in a better position to compete.

New Ninja 500

At the heart of the Kawasaki Ninja 500 lies a new, liquid-cooled, 451cc parallel-twin engine. This larger displacement engine, compared to the 400cc motor has a bigger bore and stroke, specifically 70mm x 58.6mm. This engine produces 45 bhp and 42 Nm. Complementing the power upgrade is a modern digital LCD instrument cluster with Bluetooth connectivity.

The discontinued Ninja 400 wasn't without its merits. Despite the pricing challenge, it received appreciation for its sharp design, excellent handling, and a refined parallel-twin engine that delivered smooth power throughout the rev range. The Ninja 400 sported a 399cc engine, producing 44.8 bhp and 37 Nm of torque.