Kawasaki Confirms New Z1000 Arriving at 2013 EICMA Show

Kawasaki confirmed it will introduce a new Z1000 on Nov. 5 during the 2013 EICMA show in Milan. Team Green has been running a teaser campaign for the new Z for a couple of weeks now, so this isn’t exactly surprising news, except to confirm the new model will continue to use the Z1000 designation.

Prominently featured in the teaser artwork is the Japanese character “Sugomi” which describes the sense of awe and terror given off from a person or object of greatness, such as a menacing panther stalking its prey that Kawasaki has also been using in the Z1000′s teaser campaign.

“The new Z1000 delivers an increase in overall performance combined with an emotional spirit which will appeal to riders looking for a motorcycle with a strong, discernible character in terms of both looks and riding feel,” says Keishi Fukumoto, Kawasaki’s head of motorcycle design. “From a styling perspective, we wanted to capture and distill the look and feel of a crouching predator getting ready to pounce and combined them with refined engineering features and performance updates to reinforce the Z1000’s position as the class leading naked sportbike.”

No technical details were provided, though we should expect the same additions of multiple ride modes, ABS, traction control and Brembo monoblocs introduced on the 2014 Ninja 1000. As for the engine, it’s not clear if Kawasaki will stick with the 1043cc Inline-Four that powers the Ninja 1000 and the (Europe-only) Versys 1000.

One possibility is Kawasaki will switch to the 999cc engine from the ZX-10R. According to Kawasaki, the 2012 ZX-10R engine has a claimed output of 160.5 hp compared to the 2011 Z1000′s relatively sedate 136 hp. The higher-spec engine would also provide a larger performance difference between the new Z1000 and the also-Europe-only Z800 which claims 111 hp.

New pictures teasing the Z1000′s silhouette reveal few details. A close-up look does reveal a new tail, a “Z” textured seat design, a reshaped fuel tank and gold tubes forks. Brief glimpses at the teaser video reveal a new headlight design and revised mufflers.

We’ll have the full details when Kawasaki reveals the 2014 Z1000 on Nov. 5 along with the other big reveals from the 2013 EICMA show.

[Source: Kawasaki]

By Dennis Chung