There’s simply no way around it - Kawasaki was a massive disappointment this EICMA season. After releasing the first supercharged motorcycle in the H2, we’d all hoped to see them follow up with a second model...or at least something. While that didn’t happen, they did bring this SC-02 “Soul Charger” concept and very juicy hints at what’s ahead.
Kenji Tomida, President of Kawasaki Motorcycle & Engine Company, unveiled the concept drawing at EICMA as “a downsize design showing how Kawasaki supercharger technology is scalable.”
We’ve been hoping to see a smaller displacement, supercharged engine since the release of the H2 and that’s the first place my mind went. However, after I remembered the SC-01 “Soul Charger” concept from the Tokyo Motor Show which looked more like a big sport tourer than the mid-size sportbike I’ve been dreaming of, I’m trying to not get my hopes up. “Scalable” could just as easily mean the style/purpose of the bike just as much as it could mean size.
The most important tidbit from Mr. Tomida’s presentation came at the end, when he apologized for Kawasaki’s not bringing much to the table this year but claimed that Kawasaki had 12 new models coming in the 2017 and 2018 model years. TWELVE. One of those has to be a supercharged 600/650 right? And another a 450-500 cc supermoto? Right?!? Please and thank you.
See the rest of the bikes released with our EICMA 2015 coverage here.
Photos: Kawasaki
Contact the author at sean.macdonald@jalopnik.com. Follow Lanesplitter onFacebook and Twitter.