What’s Kawasaki’s plan for the Meguro trademark?

The Interwebz are abuzz with the news that Kawasaki seems to have some sort of reason to revive its old Meguro trademark, which leaves us to wonder: Just what could the Japanese manufacturer be planning?

First, a quick history lesson: Meguro was actually one of the first Japanese motorcycle companies, getting into the bike business as part of a deal to help build Harley-Davidson clones in Japan in the 1930s. Its first motorcycle technology was actually acquired from Harley-Davidson in that time, and used to build components for other manufacturers; Meguro’s production under its own name began in 1935, and resumed after World War II.

Eventually, the company partnered with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build motorcycles, and then was absorbed by Kawasaki in the 1960s. One of the last models under the Meguro name was a 500 cc parallel twin which was the forerunner of the four-stroke W-series twins that helped build Kawasaki’s early reputation, and is the inspiration of today’s W900 machines.

Now, Motorcycle.com is reporting Kawasaki has renewed the Meguro trademark, nailing down the rights to its usage for building motorcycles or motorcycle parts. What could it mean?

It might not mean anything, as it’s very sensible for a company to protect the trademarks of its heritage, as Motorcycle.com points out, and this could just be a move to keep another competitor from grabbing the name.

Or, it could be Kawasaki plans to build some sort of W series-inspired retro machine based on internal combustion engines, likely parallel twins? Some of the Internet gossip suggests that could be the case, but without any real proof.

But if you want some really exciting speculation, how about this? Just as Ducati is planning to revive the Cagiva marque as a battery bike brand, maybe Kawasaki plans to launch an electric line under the Meguro name? It’s the sort of back-to-the-future move that’s so crazy, it just might work. Given that Kawasaki seems to be the only member of the Big Four that hasn’t lost a bit of mojo in the past few years, it’d be exciting to see what battery-powered madness the company could build.