2013 Kawasaki ZX-6R price revealed

The £10k 600cc era is well and truly here

Posted: 15 October 2012
by Visordown News

2013 Kawasaki ZX-6R ... full-spec will cost you 10 grand

KAWASAKI has announced prices for its 2013 models and might raise some eyebrows with the £9999 tag on the ABS-equipped version of the new ZX-6R.

OK, so prices have been heading that way for a while, and an ABS-fitted version of Honda's about-to-be-replaced CBR600RR is already £9400, but so far the £10k mark (ok, £1 short of it) has been the domain of bikes that shuffle towards the exotic end of the market – Triumph's Daytona 675R and MV's F3 both have the same £9999 sticker. The non-ABS version is £1000 less at £8999.

While there's little doubt that Kawasaki's new ZX-6R will be stunning to ride, can it overcome the mental barrier of a price tag that, just a few years ago (2008) would have bought a new ZX-10R and left more than a grand in change (the new-for-08 ZX-10 listed at £8950)?

Elsewhere in the range, the new Ninja 300 is going to set you back £4799, or £5199 with ABS, while the Z800 is £7499. The lower-powered Z800e is cheaper at £6899.

What do you think? Is £10k a barrier for 600-class sports bikes, or just another number, irrelevant in a world where the really important figures on expensive purchases are more often interest rates or monthly repayments?


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Jon 2
Mental when you can buy a new street triple for around £7k

Posted: 15/10/2012 at 17:09


wasabi
Biking needs to break out of this vicious cycle. Expensive bikes equals fewer sales apart from a select few middle-aged posers. Further pushing the prices up because no economy of scale. Teenagers won't jump up from a 125 to this - they'll buy a car.

Posted: 15/10/2012 at 19:12


whyhaveone
Stupid, stupid, stupid! Also, there is no way a £1000 premium for ABS can be justified, maybe 5 years ago, not now.

A big disappointment big K.

Posted: 15/10/2012 at 22:17


LS650
I won't be paying for new when I can buy a good used bike for half the price - or less!

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 03:34


thoppa
Forget the price for a moment - do you even like the bike ? I hate the upswept tail and it is a complete mismatch for the angular front. So I don't even want one. Now add the price. Is this the most unattractive new bike on the market ? It gets my vote.

For price alone, it depends on what I'm trading in - if new bike prices rise across the board, then so will second hand prices eventually, so it becomes the difference between new and used price rises that matters, and whether my salary has kept up. It hasn't.

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 05:54


backasswards
The Japanese can no longer give their MC's away. The yen is probably one of the strongest currencies in the world right now, and so the price of Japanese goods is going to reflect that. I have a 2009 zx-6r, that replaced my 2005 Triumph Daytona 650, but I paid $9,500 OTD (£5,900) for it in Jan. of 2010 (1£ -- $ 1.60 at the time, pretty much where it is right now). So add £4K plus whatever fees you peeps have to pay, and that's close to 100% markup in just 3 years from my POV.........ouch. The zx-6r is an incredible bike though, and I don't have a problem with what I paid for it. I would choose it over the triumph or the mv.........for many varied reasons.

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 06:25


Dave McDave
£10k for a high performance vehicle doesn't seem too bad.

It must cost them millions to develop, for what? A few thousand sales?

It costs what it costs and I doubt that Kawasaki or its dealers will get particularly rich from this. Indeed, expect more dealers to go bust over the winter.

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 08:26


beep1
£5199 for the ABS version of the 300 seems pretty steep to be honest. Asking potential buyers to break the £5000 barrier for what will be perceived as a beginners bike, is probably asking too much. Not ridden one yet, but for that money it would have to be exceptional.

Look at the other bike around that price or only a couple of hundred quid more, the SV650, GSX650F, NC700S, Gladius, some of which have ABS like the Kawasaki. As existing models all will be discounted to some extent so the price difference with the 300 might be zero in some cases. ALL of these would outperform the 300 in most aspects, destroy it in speed tests and wouldn't use much more fuel either. Okay the 300 is a great looking bike but would you exchange looks for the significant loss of performance, for the same purchase price?

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 09:31


Michael English
£10,000? way too much for a 6, get yourself the new GSX-R750 for £8500, is a steal

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 10:03


Soxs
Considering that a new R6 is £9130 and a GSX-R600 is £8903 or a new GSX-R750 is £10,028 otr, the non-abs version at £9130 with traction control doesn't look that bad.

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 12:08


Pagik
It's fairly easy, if you don't like it, or bike prices going this way, buy one that's a year or 6 months old for about 2 grand less. They'll stop putting the prices up eventually when they realise...

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 16:09


Chris Gagnon
10K pounds is 16K American. That's what I paid for my '11 BMW S1000RR with some extra goodies!!! One would hope their pricing strategy for the states will be different, as no one here would pay that for a 600.

Posted: 16/10/2012 at 23:41


Pagik
No one will pay it here either. Well, I say no one, doubtless they'll be one born the very minute it goes on sale....

Posted: 17/10/2012 at 09:19


submariner999
I bought a ZX10R 2007 model, brand new in feb 2008 and paid £7499 for it. How can they justify 10K for a 600? This is the longest i have kept a bike due to these ridiculous price hikes. I will not be paying 12K for a new 10R!!!

Posted: 17/10/2012 at 12:25


Aki
Prices have been heading this way for a long time now so i'm not surprised, But as the last paragraph states if they offer this on a long term interest free finance deal they could still work out cheaper than the competition?

Only a couple weeks back Kawasaki were knocking out new 2011 ZX10r's with 4yrs interest free finance for £11k.

If they do something similar and you trade in your 3yr old 600 for say £4500, you could be riding away on this for less than £115 a month? Doesn't look so bad now does it?

Posted: 17/10/2012 at 13:02


These are'nt the droids we're looking for!
Well its lucky the recession is over and weve all got loads of money to splash around on luxury items again . That must be why there are soooooo many bikes on the road and sales in bike shops are booming, its no wonder hein gericke just anounced record profits... Wait a minute it's still recession days and were still all skint. Thats why i can ride to work and back and not see another bike.

Posted: 17/10/2012 at 14:08


Rogerborg
So the solution from the lowest selling Japanese marque to the plummeting sales of 600s is to... ramp up the price?

I wish them all the success that they deserve.

Posted: 17/10/2012 at 20:50


backasswards
MSRP of zx-6r in the states: $11,700 (non abs) = £7,252. so around £1,750 more than we're paying.......doesn't seem right.

Posted: 18/10/2012 at 06:44


Aki
If you go on Kawasaki's website the OTR price for the ZX6R and ZX6R Performance (which i presume is the ABS model?) is £8709 and £9360 and the outgoing 2011 model is £8707 with £1000 worth of extras thrown in.
When compared to the competition, how old is the R6 and CBR now? that seems pretty competitive for an all new model?

I think the best way to look at it is not that bikes are so expensive now its just that 5-10yrs ago they were so cheap. Also confounded by the fact 5-10yrs ago we all had a lot more money kicking around or did we? Was it just that it was a lot easier to borrow?

Posted: 18/10/2012 at 10:12

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