Kawasaki Ninja 500, Z 500 pricing confirmed under £6,000

A few months after Kawasaki announced the end of the Ninja 400 and Z 400 with the arrival of the new Kawasaki Ninja 500 and Z 500, pricing for both new models has been announced.

Both the Kawasaki Z 500 and Ninja 500 are available in standard and SE variants, with a slightly higher price for the higher-spec SE version in each case.

For the naked Z 500, pricing starts at £5,699 for the standard version and rises to £6,049 for the SE. For the faired Ninja 500 sportster, £5,999 will get you the standard bike, while you’ll need £6,499 to upgrade to the SE version when both machines land in March.

Kawasaki Ninja 500, Z 500 in summary

The 2024 Kawasaki Ninja 500 and Kawasaki Z 500 open up a new era for the middleweight category from the Akashi brand, with an all-new engine powering the two.

New engines are not all that common by now, and when they do come along they are normally built in a way that makes them generalisable. Honda, for example, uses its 1,084cc parallel twin-cylinder in both its CRF1100L Africa Twin and NT1100, and the new Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid’s powertrain is also now utilised in the new Kawasaki Z 7 Hybrid.

The new 500-class twin-cylinder motor Kawasaki is using in its new Ninja 500 and Z 500 does not yet have its displacement published, but we know it is water-cooled and is linked with an Assist and Slipper clutch in both models. Power and torque outputs are also currently unknown, but Kawasaki says the motor is A2-compliant, meaning there will be no more than 47bhp.

Both the Ninja and Z 500 also make use of the same trellis frame and LCD display, and can be fitted with an Ergo-Fit seat which raises the seat height by 30mm. 

Additionally, the two will also be available in ‘Special Edition’ variants, which swap the LCD for a TFT, add connectivity to the Kawasaki Rideology app, and bring a USB-C outlet. In the case of the Ninja 500, Kipass keyless ignition is also included in the SE spec.

The Special Edition variants, in both cases, also come with different paint options compared to standard. The standard option for the Z 500 is ‘Metallic Spark Black/Metallic Matte Graphene Steel Gray’, and ‘Metallic Spark Black/Metallic Flat Raw Graystone’ for the Ninja 500. ‘Candy Persimmon Red/Metallic Flat Spark Black/Metallic Matte Graphene Steel Gray’ and Candy Lime Green/Metallic Spark Black/Metallic Matte Graphenesteel Gray’ are the Z 500 SE’s choices, while the Ninja 500 SE is available in either ‘Lime Green/Ebony’ or ‘Metallic Matte Dark Gray/Metallic Flat Spark Black/Metallic Moondust Gray’.

Both bikes are expected to arrive in UK dealers by March 2024.

Find all the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.