During the 2017 Kawasaki Road Safety Campaign launch at the Sungai Besi toll plaza today, it was strongly hinted that the 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X 250 would be launched in Malaysia by the end of this month, followed by the Z900 and Z650 naked sportsbikes, replacements for the Z800 and Er-6, respectively. The quarter-litre class dual-purpose tourer is expected to be in Kawasaki dealer showrooms by March or April, pending Customs clearance.

No details were forthcoming about likely pricing for the Versys-X 250, which is expected to open a new segment for Kawasaki in the road-going 250 cc arena. Quietly launched in November last year, the Versys-X 250 carries a 249 cc liquid-cooled parallel twin with DOHC and eight-valves.

Said to be based on the engine from the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, it is surmised that the Versys-X 250’s engine will produce somewhere about 29.9 hp at 10,500 rpm and 21.7 Nm torque at 10,000 rpm. Driving a six-speed gearbox, the Versys-X uses EFI, which feeds twin-throttle bodies equipped with dual throttle valves.

Fuel is carried in a 17-litre tank, and braking is with single discs, 290 mm front and 220 mm rear, clamped by Nissin calipers. A 41 mm telescopic fork props up the front 19-inch wheel, with Kawasaki’s Uni-Trak single gas-charged absorber at the 17-inch rear.

There are two versions of the Versys-X 250 – City and Tourer. The Tourer comes with a brush guard, twin auxiliary driving lights, hand guards and rear panniers, while the City version does without.

No official word on pricing at the moment, but in Indonesia, the 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X 250 retails for 61,900,000 rupiah (RM20,756) for the City and 72,700,000 rupiah (RM24,377) for the Tourer. Two colour options are shown on Kawasaki’s Indonesian website for the Versys-X 250 – Candy Lime Green/Metallic Graphite Gray and Candy Burnt Orange/Metallic Graphite Gray for the Tourer, while the City gets Candy Lime Green/Metallic Graphite Gray and Metallic Graphite Gray/Flat Ebony.