5 things to know about the Kawasaki Z300

The Kawasaki Z300 is the Japanese brand’s new entry-level street naked, which will sit at the bottom of its Z lineup, drawing styling cues from the larger Z900. It is built on the same platform as the Ninja 300 and brings a parallel-twin engine to a segment largely dominated by single-cylinder bikes, going up against the KTM 390 Duke and TVS Apache RTR 310.

1. What engine does the Kawasaki Z300 use?

The Z300 is powered by a 296cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine producing 39hp and 26.1Nm of torque, paired with a six-speed gearbox. The engine is shared with the Ninja 300, but the Z300’s upright ergonomics, largely thanks to a wide, single-piece handlebar, should give it a more relaxed character than its faired sibling.

2. What features does the Kawasaki Z300 get?

The Z300 gets a new instrument cluster with smartphone connectivity, which should be an upgrade over the dated yet charming analogue semi-digital console on the Ninja 300. During the launch livestream, we spotted more than one type of display. One appeared to be a negative LCD unit, while another had a white backlight and could be a TFT screen. This suggests the Z300 may be offered in multiple variants with different feature levels, but Kawasaki is yet to confirm the full variant breakdown.

3. What colours will the Kawasaki Z300 be available in?

The Kawasaki Z300 will be available in two colours at launch – Green and Black.

4. Which bikes will the Kawasaki Z300 rival?

The Z300’s closest rivals are the KTM 390 Duke and the TVS Apache RTR 310. Both are single-cylinder motorcycles with more performance-oriented chassis setups, although the Z300’s parallel-twin engine should give it an edge in refinement. The Z300 might not match them in terms of outright performance, but the Kawasaki badge and twin-cylinder engine give it a distinct proposition in this segment.

5. What is the Kawasaki Z300 price?

'Kawasaki had scheduled a full price and specification reveal for October 20, but pricing is yet to be confirmed on the Kawasaki India website at the time of writing. For context, the faired Ninja 300 is currently listed at Rs 3.34 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The Z300 gets a new instrument cluster, at the very least, but also has less bodywork. A price in the range of Rs 3.20 lakh to Rs 3.50 lakh (ex-showroom) seems likely, but we’ll update this once Kawasaki confirms the official pricing.