 | |
| Company type | Motorcycle manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Founded | Meguro, Tokyo, Japan (1937) |
| Defunct | October 1964 (merged into Kawasaki) |
| Products | Motorcycles, gearboxes |
Meguro motorcycles were built by Meguro Manufacturing Co motorcycle works (目黒製作所), founded by Nobuji Murata and a high-ranking naval officer, Takaji Suzuki, in 1937. One of the first Japanese motorcycle companies, it became a partner of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, and was eventually absorbed. Named after a district of Tokyo, Meguro had its roots in Murato Iron Works, which was established in 1924. Meguro Seisakusho, which had once developed a copy of a Harley-Davidson V-twin, was established to design and build gearboxes for the nascent Japanese motorcycle industry. Abe Industries, which had once produced its own motorcycle, merged with Meguro in 1931. The brand is being revived by Kawasaki with a new K3 model to be introduced in Japan on February 1, 2021.
Once a prestige brand, supplying the Japanese government with military and police motorcycles, and racing alongside Honda, Meguro (メグロ) became bankrupt after launching a range of lightweight motorcycles which sold poorly, and experiencing a yearlong labor strike. The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. rates the Meguro Z97 model introduced in 1937 as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology.[1]
- ^ "Megro Z97 Motorcycle". 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology. Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
This model was manufactured as the first luxury-class medium-sized motorcycle for personal use in Japan, and approximately 850 units were sold.