The smaller Zed made a big impact on the class when it was released in 2004...
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Kawasaki has never been a company that likes to play by the rules, especially when its back is up against the wall, which was most certainly the case in the early 2000s. After some terrible sales, due to a lacklustre model range, Kawasaki’s top brass started to turn the whole show around and 2003 marked the start of the firm’s revival. With the radical Z1000 and Ninja ZX-6R grabbing the headlines, Kawasaki needed to keep its momentum going and so for the next year it looked towards the high volume naked middleweight class.
While the launch of the new Ninja ZX-10R certainly stole the front covers in 2004, it was the bike that was unveiled alongside it that ultimately proved the more vital to Kawasaki’s future success – the Z750.