Kawasaki

Kawasaki
Appearance	Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Industry	Motorcycles
Founded	15 October, 1896 (Kawasaki Heavy Industries) 1 January, 2001 (Kawasaki Motors, Ltd.)
Founders	Shōzō Kawasaki
Fate	Active
HQ	1-1, Kawasaki-cho, Akashi, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Key People	Yuji Horiuchi (President)
Areas Served	Worldwide
Products	Motorcycles
Parent	Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Website	kawasaki-cp.khi.co.jp

Kawasaki (officially Kawasaki Motorcycles) is a Japanese motorcycle manufacturer that appears Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and Midnight Club: Los Angeles. The brand is part of the Motorcycle & Engine Division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The Motorcycle & Engine Division originally was called Kawasaki Motors Ltd. and was derived from Kawasaki Aircraft Industries, also a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. This business is rooted in making motorcycles, boats and engines. In 1953, they began producing motorcycle engines and have since made products such as the Mach and Ninja, and the Jet Ski, which has now become a generic term to describe "personal watercraft." Until 2021, Kawasaki Aircraft Industries was a division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and was known as Kawasaki Aerospace Company. They eventually became Kawasaki Motorcycle & Engine Company and then became separated as Kawasaki Motors Ltd.

History

Kawasaki Aircraft Industries initially produced motorcycles under the brand Meguro Motorcycles, who were owned by Meguro Manufacturing Co. Eventually, Meguro would face financial struggles and Kawasaki would buy Meguro to create Kawasaki Motor Sales. Some of Kawasaki's early motorcycles have the Kawasaki Aircraft emblem on the fuel tank.

In 1962, engineers at Kawasaki began developing a 4-stroke engine for small cars. Some of those engineers to the Meguro factory to work on the Meguro K1 and the SG engine (single cylinder 250cc overhead valve). In 1963, Kawasaki merged with Meguro to make Kawasaki Motorcycle Co., Ltd. Kawasaki motorbikes from 1962-1967 used an emblem which was a "flag within a wing."

Work on the Meguro K1 continued, which was a copy of the BSA A7 engine (500cc Vertical Twin), and on the Kawasaki W1 motorcycle. The K2 was exported to the United States to test the American market for 4-stroke motorcycles. At first, buyers rejected the bikes due to being underpowered. By the mid 1960s, Kawasaki was exporting a moderate number of bikes to the United States. The H1 Mach III, along with many other enduro-styled bikes competing with Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha, increased Kawasaki's sales in 1968

By 1974, Kawasaki established an assembly facility in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA and named it the America Kawasaki Motors Corporation (KMC) to assemble Japan-produced components into finished motorcycles for the North American market. Kawasaki's engines division, located in a single office complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, conducts research and development projects for engines.

Vehicles

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R (Prize)
(Rear Quarter View)

Kawasaki Police 1000
(Rear Quarter View)

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

2007 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14
(Rear Quarter View)
(Class A/Group 4)

Logo History

The Kawasaki logo has only gone through 3 different designs throughout its history. The used typeface for the logo has several different analogs that only differ in minor details: Foundation Sans Black (FontSite Inc.), Pragmatica Black (ParaType), Sequel Sans Head Black (OGJ Type Design), and Crique Grotesk Black (Stawix). The font has stayed relatively the same since 1967 and almost resembles the 1961 logo. The 1961 contains a flag with the Kawasaki motorcycles symbol and a shape that resembles a turbo-charger. The turbo has white stripes following the contours and the wordmark "Kawasaki" is written on it. The second logo features the wordmark along with a giant letter "K" above to emphasize the name. The third logo uses the wordmark and the symbol from the first logo above the Kawasaki name.

1961-1967

1967-2021

2021-Now