Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI) (川崎重工業株式会社 Kawasaki Jūkōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha) /kaʊ.əˈsɑːki/ is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of motorcycles, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships. It is also active in the production of industrial robots, gas turbines, boilers and other industrial products. The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki, and has dual headquarters in Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.

KHI is known as one of the three major heavy industrial manufacturers of Japan, alongside Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI.

Prior to World War II, KHI was part of the Kobe Kawasaki zaibatsu, which included Kawasaki Steel and Kawasaki Kisen. After the war, KHI became part of the DKB Group (keiretsu).

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine Company (川崎重工業モーターサイクル&エンジンカンパニー)

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine

is a division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries that produces motorcycles, ATVs, utility vehicles, jet ski personal watercraft, and general-purpose gasoline engines. Before the 2011 fiscal year it was called Consumer Products & Machinery.[1] Its slogan is “Let the good times roll!”.

Motorcycles

Kawasaki’s Aircraft Company began the development of a motorcycle engine in 1949. The development was completed in 1952 and mass production started in 1953. The engine was an air-cooled, 148 cc, OHV, four-stroke single cylinder with a maximum power of 4 PS (2.9 kW; 3.9 hp) at 4,000 rpm. In 1954, the first complete Kawasaki Motorcycle was produced under the name of Meihatsu, a subsidiary of Kawasaki Aircraft. In 1960, Kawasaki completed construction of a factory dedicated exclusively to motorcycle production and bought Meguro Motorcycles.

Kawasaki motorcycles are manufactured by the Motorcycle & Engine division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries at plants in Japan, USA, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

History

Kawasaki Aircraft initially manufactured motorcycles under the Meguro name, having bought an ailing motorcycle manufacturer, Meguro Manufacturing with whom they had been in partnership. This eventually became Kawasaki Motor Sales.[2] Some early motorcycles display an emblem with “Kawasaki Aircraft” on the fuel tank.

During 1962, Kawasaki engineers were developing a four-stroke engine for small cars. Then some of the engineers transferred to the Meguro factory to work on the Meguro K1 and the SG, a single cylinder 250 cc OHV. In 1963, Kawasaki and Meguro merged to form Kawasaki Motorcycle Co.,Ltd.[3][4] Kawasaki motorcycles from 1962 through 1967 used an emblem which can be described as a flag within a wing.

Work continued on the Meguro K1, a copy of the BSA A7 500 cc vertical twin.[5] and on the Kawasaki W1. The K2 was exported to the U.S. for a test in response to the expanding American market for four-stroke motorcycles. At first it was rejected for a lack of power. By the mid-1960s, Kawasaki was finally exporting a moderate number of motorcycles. The Kawasaki H1 Mach III in 1968, along with several enduro-styled motorcycles to compete with Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda, increased sales of Kawasaki units.

Kawasaki’s engines division, housed in a single office complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan, consolidates research and development projects for engines.

Racing

Kawasaki’s traditional racing colour is green. Many Kawasaki racing teams are called Team Green. The “Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green™” provides a support program developing amateur motocross racers.

Grand Prix, MotoGP

Kawasaki’s first title was with Dave Simmonds in 1969 when they won the 125 cc World Championship. Kawasaki dominated the 250 cc and 350 cc grand prix classes from 1978 to 1982 winning four titles in each category.

With the introduction of the four-stroke engines into MotoGP in 2002, Kawasaki decided to take part in the new MotoGP World Championship. Kawasaki entered the championship in 2003 with 250 cc Grand Prix racer Harald Eckl’s Team Eckl.

In 2003, the Kawasaki Racing Team was formed after Kawasaki had developed their new 990cc ZX-RR bike throughout 2002 and raced it in the last three races of the 2002 MotoGP season. The racing activities were managed by Harald Eckl’s team based in Germany. It wasn’t until 2004 that Kawasaki had two riders – Alex Hofmann and Shinya Nakano, who raced for the entire season. Nakano placed 3rd in Japan that year achieving Kawasaki’s first podium finish in MotoGP.[4]

In 2007, Kawasaki split from Harald Eckl because of Eckl’s involvement with a competitor’s MotoGP activities, which forced Kawasaki to terminate the relationship immediately.[5] Kawasaki formed Kawasaki Motors Racing, a European subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries responsible for managing the racing activities of the MotoGP team and any other motorcycle racing activities Kawasaki may enter in the future. For the first time since Kawasaki returned to the premier class of motorcycle racing, the team became a complete ‘in house’ factory team.

On January 9, 2009, Kawasaki announced it had decided to “… suspend its MotoGP racing activities from 2009 season onward and reallocate management resources more efficiently”. The company stated that it will continue racing activities using mass-produced motorcycles as well as supporting general race oriented consumers.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Year	Champion
Year	350 cc	250 cc	125 cc
1982	Anton Mang
1981	Anton Mang	Anton Mang
1980		Anton Mang
1979	Kork Ballington	Kork Ballington
1978	Kork Ballington	Kork Ballington
1969			Dave Simmonds