Patent drawings unearthed in Europe show the partnership between Kawasaki and Kymco will likely result in a new 650 twin from the Taiwanese manufacturer.
So far, the biggest result of the team-up between the two companies has been the J300 scooter, a re-badged Kymco that Kawasaki sells in other markets (they co-operate on other vehicles as well). But now, several magazines are reporting patent drawings that show Kymco is working on a new naked bike that’s very similar to the Kawasaki ER-6N.
In case you think that sounds familiar, it should. It wasn’t that long ago CFMoto introduced 650 twins that were very similar to Kawasaki’s parallel twin bikes, complete with laydown shock and all. As far as we know, these are still available in Canada, although we’ve heard little about them since introduction (we did see some Brit mag review the touring version, and the writer was enthusiastic — a little too enthusiastic, if anything. We’d be very interested to try one ourselves).
But given our insatiable curiosity, we dropped a line to Kymco Canada to see if this version of the 650 would be coming to our market. Kymco did not give any indication that it would be coming here.
Will the machine be a success in whichever markets it hits? It all depends on price point of course — just ask Hyosung how its business plan, selling slightly different versions of Suzuki’s naked bikes, worked out for them.
Kymco’s Canadian distributor won’t bring it in unless the U.S. does – too much hassle to meet Transport Canada requirements for the number they’d sell.
Too bad…