Kawasaki (7012:JP) just might have a death wish—for you. The Japanese industrial giant has unveiled the most powerful production motorcycle ever.
The 2015 Ninja H2R will generate a ludicrous 300 horsepower from a supercharged engine. For perspective, the new Alfa Romeo sports car critics are drooling over—the 4C—comes with 237 horses, while BMW’s popular HP4 superbike comes with 193. The Ninja looks like some kind of angry Hollywood alien crossed with a fighter plane. (You can even see little wings in Kawasaki’s dramatic press video.)
There’s a catch: The new Ninja isn’t street legal. Kawasaki has promised a slightly toned-down version soon. So why bother making it? Superlatives sell in the world of wheels.
Dodge has cornered the cover slot of every car magazine for months since it unveiled a 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat. The car isn’t all that different from the Challenger that Dodge has made for years, but it has a much clearer marketing message: “the most powerful muscle car ever.” Kawasaki is taking a similar line here. It will sell a limited number of its new super-Ninjas for the track, at powerful profit margins no doubt. And all the buzz about the machine (including this article!) will likely help drive customers to the toned-down version.
What’s interesting is that Kawasaki seems to be toying with a sort of unspoken agreement among bike makers not to push the power envelope too far. Policymakers started grumbling in earnest about banning high-speed bikes in 1999 after the Suzuki Hayabusa hit the market with speeds just shy of 200 mph. In the years since, companies such as Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Ducati have limited top speeds and focused on making bikes more efficient, technologically advanced, and agile. The new Ninja, however, may change all that.
