Kawasaki Motors
Subsidiaries | Autopolis Co., Ltd. |
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Website | www.global-kawasaki-motors.com |
Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. (カワサキモータース株式会社, Kawasaki Mōtāsu Kabushikigaisha) is a Japanese mobility manufacturer that produces motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, utility vehicles, watercraft, outboard motors, and other electric products. It derives its origins from Kawasaki Aircraft Industries, a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and is rooted in the motorcycle, boat, and engine businesses. In 1953, they began manufacturing engines for motorcycles and have since produced products such as the Mach and Ninja series in motorcycles and the Jet Ski, which has become a generic term for personal watercraft. Until 2021, it was a division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, known as the Kawasaki Aerospace Company (川策重工業汎用機カンパニー) and later the Kawasaki Motorcycle & Engine Company (川崎重工業モーターサイクル&エンジンカンパニー). In 2021, it was separated as Kawasaki Motors, Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Motorcycles
Kawasaki's Aircraft Company began the development of a motorcycle engine in 1949. The development was completed in 1952 and mass production started in 1953.
All-terrain vehicles and utility vehicles
Kawasaki's first ATV was the three-wheeled KLT200, which debuted in 1981. Its first four-wheel ATV, the Bayou 185, was introduced in 1985 and in 1989, its first model with four-wheel-drive, the Bayou 300 4x4. Today, Kawasaki's ATV line-up includes a wide range of recreational and utility ATVs.
Kawasaki's MULE (Multi-Use Light Equipment) utility vehicle combines an ATV with a pick-up truck. The first MULE was produced in 1988. Kawasaki now calls their utility vehicles "side-by-side" vehicles.
Watercraft
In 1973, Kawasaki introduced a limited production of stand-up models as designed by the recognized inventor of jet skis,
In 2003, Kawasaki celebrated the Jet Ski brand by releasing a special 30th
Racing
Kawasaki's traditional racing colour is green. Many Kawasaki racing teams are called Team Green. The "Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green™" provides a support program developing amateur motocross racers.[5]
Grand Prix, MotoGP
Kawasaki's first title was with Dave Simmonds in 1969 when they won the 125 cc World Championship. Kawasaki dominated the 250 cc and 350 cc grand prix classes from 1978 to 1982 winning four titles in each category.
With the introduction of the four-stroke engines into
In 2003, the Kawasaki Racing Team was formed after Kawasaki had developed their new 990cc ZX-RR bike throughout 2002 and raced it in the last three races of the 2002 MotoGP season. The racing activities were managed by Harald Eckl's team based in Germany. It was not until 2004 that Kawasaki had two riders - Alex Hofmann and Shinya Nakano, who raced for the entire season. Nakano placed 3rd in Japan that year achieving Kawasaki's first podium finish in MotoGP.[6]
In 2007, Kawasaki split from Harald Eckl because of Eckl's involvement with a competitor's MotoGP activities, which forced Kawasaki to terminate the relationship immediately.
On January 9, 2009, Kawasaki announced it had decided to "... suspend its MotoGP racing activities from 2009 season onward and reallocate management resources more efficiently". The company stated that it will continue racing activities using mass-produced motorcycles as well as supporting general race oriented consumers.
Year | Champion | ||
---|---|---|---|
350 cc | 250 cc | 125 cc | |
1982 | Anton Mang | ||
1981 | Anton Mang | Anton Mang | |
1980 | Anton Mang | ||
1979 | Kork Ballington | Kork Ballington | |
1978 | Kork Ballington | Kork Ballington | |
1969 | Dave Simmonds |
Superbike
Kawasaki's involvement in the
Kawasaki has won several
Year | Champion |
---|---|
1993 | Scott Russell |
2013 | Tom Sykes |
2015 | Jonathan Rea |
2016 | Jonathan Rea |
2017 | Jonathan Rea |
2018 | Jonathan Rea |
2019 | Jonathan Rea |
2020 | Jonathan Rea |
Year | Champion |
---|---|
1977 | Reg Pridmore |
1978 | Reg Pridmore |
1981 | Eddie Lawson |
1982 | Eddie Lawson |
1983 | Wayne Rainey |
1990 | Doug Chandler |
1992 | Scott Russell |
1996 | Doug Chandler |
1997 | Doug Chandler |
- Endurance World Championship
Year | Champion |
---|---|
1981 | Jean Lafond Raymond Roche |
1982 | Jean-Claude Chemarin Jacques Cornu |
1991 | Alex Vieira |
1992 | Terry Rymer Carl Fogarty |
1993 | Doug Toland |
1994 | Adrien Morillas |
1996 | Bryan Morrison |
Supertwin
Kawasaki machinery has been pivotal in the development of Supertwin racing.[8] The racing machines are developed from the Kawasaki 650cc parallel twin commuter bike (ER6-n or ER6-f).[9] The machines are then transformed through development into an 85 bhp race bike with top end speeds in excess of 150 mph.[10]
The KMR Kawasaki Racing Team[11] are one of the leading race teams in the category, whose team members include Ryan Farquhar and Jeremy McWilliams.[12]
Year | Champion |
---|---|
2012 | Ryan Farquhar |
2013 | James Hillier |
2014 | Dean Harrison |
2015 | Ivan Lintin |
Isle of Man TT
Kawasaki has enjoyed numerous successes at the
Motocross
Riders on Kawasaki motorcycles won races in the British Motocross Championship, Motocross des Nations, AMA Supercross Championship, Sidecarcross and Supermoto.
Championship wins:
- 1995 Stefan Everts, FIM Motocross World Championship (250cc)
- 29 times the AMA Motocross Championship
See also
References
- ^ "Kawasaki Motors Corporate Info". 14 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Company profile". Retrieved 6 January 2024.
- ^ "Kawasaki history".
- ISBN 1-4027-4302-5.
- ^ kawasaki.com: Team Green Racing, retrieved 8 September 2012
- ^ Kawasaki Racing Team Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine highrevs.net. Retrieved on 2009-05-10
- ^ "Kawasaki: A new beginning in 2007". kawasaki-motogp.com. 29 November 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
- ^ "Kawasaki Supertwin".
- ^ "Kawasaki Supertwin".
- ^ "Kawasaki Supertwin".
- ^ http://www.sdkmotorsport.co.uk/kmr/?cat=3 [permanent dead link]
- ^ http://www.sdkmotorsport.co.uk/kmr/?cat=4 [permanent dead link]
- ^ http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Database.aspx [bare URL]
- ^ http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Database/Machines.aspx?marq_Name=Kawasaki&filter=K [bare URL]
- ^ http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Database/competitors.aspx?ride_id=2785&filter=G [bare URL]
External links
- Official website
- Kawasaki motorcycles at Curlie