Kawasaki Motors Corp. Company Profile
Kawasaki is a world-renowned leader in the manufacturing and design of Powersports products, specifically motorcycles, ATVs, and watercraft. Their strong commitment to creating products that are high quality, reliable, and feature innovative technology is what sets them apart from their competitors.
History of Kawasaki Motorcycles
Kawasaki’s origins can be traced back as far as the late 19th century when a man named Shozo Kawasaki founded the company. At that time, motorcycles were only a small part of the company’s overall product lineup. They would remain a background product until Kawasaki bought out Meguro Motorcycles in 1960.
After the purchase of Meguro Motorcycles, the company experienced great success overseas for six years and eventually broke into the U.S. market in March of 1966. The United States division’s first headquarters were located in an old meat-packaging warehouse in Chicago.
They started with little, but would soon find great success with the introduction of what would become one of their flagship products.
The United States division’s first breakout star was its rotary valve bike, the Samurai. This 250cc, 80hp bike was the first real indicator that Kawasaki Motors Corp. could (and would) become a real player in the high-performance bike market. That was further justified in 1969 when the Mach 3 500cc two-stroke triple was released to the public with massive success. That particular bike helped Kawasaki motorcycles take off in the states, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Kawasaki Motors Corp. features quality bikes like the Ninja line of sport bikes, the Vulcan line of cruisers and the recurring AMA champion KX motocross bikes. The company now has headquarters located all over the United States and has (very) successfully established itself as one of the top performance bike producers in the world.
Kawasaki Performance and Quality
Throughout the years, the Kawasaki brand has become synonymous with reliability. To state it simply, you can always trust Kawasaki motorcycles to run like it should, as long as you take care of it. Their bikes can take a fair amount of abuse and still operate without issues.
If there were any criticisms the company faced over the years in regards to their motorcycles, it would be the noise levels of their bikes (a little on the high side) and their build quality. While the bikes are very reliable, the quality of the parts and the build itself have lacked in certain areas.
Awards & Recognition
Kawasaki Motors Corp. has won several awards in the categories of reliability, quality, and overall performance. It would take several pages to list all of their accolades over the years, so, to save you some valuable time, we’re going to focus on their most recent accolades for their most popular models: the Ninja and the Versys.
The Ninja line of bikes has won several awards in the past decade, including Motorcycle.com’s Best Value Award in 2009 and the Motorcyclist Magazine’s Best Bang For The Buck award. The Ninja 300 ABS, in particular, won Motorcycle.com’s Beginner Sportbike Shootout in 2013.
The Versys line of bikes has also won several awards, like Motorcyclist Magazine’s 2008 Motorcycle of the Year award, and even their 2013 City Bike Shootout award.
The Public’s Opinion
As it stands right now, the general public regards the Kawasaki motorcycles as being one of the most reliable lines of motorcycles currently on the market. While they may lack in build quality at times, there is a reason they are one of the leading bike manufacturers in the world. The fact that so many are sold each year is a testament to the esteemed reputation of Kawasaki Motors Corp.
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