Some grainy catalogue shots of the 2016 Kawasaki Ninja 250R have been posted by Warungasep and TMCblog and the bike is expected to be launched in Indonesia some time this year. Rumour has it the Ninja 250R will come with a two-cylinder engine. The current Malaysian market Kawasaki Ninja 250 has a parallel-twin engine, while the 250SL has a single-cylinder thumper with both engines running EFI.
Given that its prime competitor in the quarter-liter class market is the Yamaha R25, which contains a parallel-twin, this isn’t that surprising. The rumoured Honda CBR250R replacement, the CBR250RR, is also said to be carrying a two-cylinder engine.
If this is a case, the current Kawasaki Malaysia line-up of the Ninja 250, and Ninja 250SL, might be superceded come 2017. However, going by past practice, Indonesia and Thailand tend to get the new models first, with Malaysia being between six months to a year late, sometimes more.
The Kawasaki Ninja 250SL retails for around RM17,689 without GST while the Yamaha R25 has an official retail price of RM20,206 inclusive of GST. The Honda CBR250R retails for RM19,999 for the standard Trico & Black and RM20,499 for Repsol – both without ABS. The CBR250R with C-ABS sells at RM22,999 for Trico & Black and RM23,499 for Repsol livery. The prices for the Honda CBR250R exclude GST.
GALLERY: 2015 Kawasaki Ninja 250 and 250SL
GALLERY: 2015 Yamaha R25