New Kawasaki ATV Appears In European Intellectual Property Filing
Earlier this year at a dealer's meeting, Kawasaki reportedly announced the brand would be launching a mid-bore, 450-class ATV. A recent filing that popped up on the European Union Intellectual Property Office seems to corroborate this, with what looks to be a new Brute Force four-wheeler making an appearance in a variety of technical drawings.
Kawasaki has long had a large void in the middle of its utility ATV lineup, with the spread consisting solely of the Brute Force 300 and 750 models (after the demise of the 650 a few years back). That gap between the small, entry-level class 300 and the big-bore heavy hitter 750 always had us wondering why—and when—Kawi would bring out a machine to sit in the middle, and that time seems like it's now.
What can we deduce from the drawings? Quite a bit, actually. This does look like a new machine, adopting the recently refreshed 750's design. Unlike the 750, this has open-style racks akin to what the 650 and 750 used to have, but it does carry the handlebar light pod that the 750 touts for added visibility. The machine here wears what appear to be Maxxis Bighorn tires wrapped around steel wheels, and it has adjustable suspension with piggyback reservoir shocks.
The big question is obviously the powerplant, which we can't deduce from the drawings. We do see a single-outlet center exhaust and a large CVT housing, so we presume it will adopt a single-cylinder mated to a traditional continuously-variable transmission. Front driveshafts are visible from the head-on image, confirming this is a four-wheel-drive machine; this further suggests it isn't a refresh of the Brute Force 300, as that has always been a 2WD quad to keep price at a minimum. What's not present is Kawasaki's bright yellow differential lock lever that the big-bore Brutes have always had, so it's either an open diff up front or Kawi has finally gone to a switch or button for locker activation (which would be a very welcome change).
We hope to know more about this upcoming new Kawasaki ATV in the coming months, so stay tuned.
Ross hosts The Off the Road Again Podcast. He has been in the off-road world since he was a kid riding in the back of his dad’s YJ Wrangler. He works in marketing by day and in his free time contributes to Hooniverse, AutoGuide, and ATV.com, and in the past has contributed to UTV Driver, ATV Rider, and Everyday Driver. Ross drives a 2018 Lexus GX460 that is an ongoing build project featured on multiple websites and the podcast and spends his free time working on and riding ATVs.
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