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Kawasaki
A brief history of the Kawasaki Mule
Kawasaki’s idea to produce a utility vehicle came in August 1980, not in the boardroom of the head office in Japan but
with sketch drawn on a napkin, however it wasn’t until 1987 that that drawling later became the Mule 1000 in America.
t was a further four years before
it came to the UK and since its
creation the Mule has been
constantly evolving and
developing. Although the Mule
has been available in the UK
since the early 1990s, not every model has
been sold here, so this is the story of the Mule
as its evolved globally since those early days.
Today in the UK, Kawasaki offers four different
Mule models: the Mule SX, Mule SX 4x4, Mule
Pro-DX and Mule Pro-DXT and all of them can
be traced back to that first Mule - the 2010. The
Mule 2010’s first updates came within three
years of production, when Kawasaki began to
swiftly upgrade the Mule with selectable 2WD
or 4WD with a Hi/Lo transmission, to make it
the most versatile utility vehicle on the market
at the time.
The Mule 2010 was followed by the Mule
2020, nicknamed the “turf” Mule because it was
a medium-class utility vehicle specially
designed for use on golf courses, sporting
fields and other places where a soft “footprint”
is important. Powered by a fan-cooled single-
cylinder engine, it featured a dual-mode
differential that could be locked for maximum
traction or unlocked to minimize ground
disturbance. Turf-type tires and easy to use
controls made this vehicle an instant hit.
Kawasaki also introduced the Mule 500 to
the market in 1991. This personal-sized utility
vehicle was compact in size, easy to use and
could easily fit in the back of a pick-up truck.
Crucially in the story of the Mule, it began a
theme of compact, easy to use Mule utility
vehicles – a theme that has evolved into the
current Mule SX.
Only the next year in 1992, Kawasaki
updated the Mule with V-twin power, utilizing a
larger, more-powerful liquid-cooled 617cc V-
I
twin engine inside the Mule 2510 that featured
four-wheel drive, heavy-duty carrying capacity
and a tilting cargo bed, making it the top-of-the-
line for the time.
The Mule line continued to evolve
throughout the 1990s, with more iterations and
more specialty models such as the Mule 2520,
the next series in the 2500 line with a quiet-
running V-twin and lightweight footprint; and
the Mule 550, a compact two-seater also with
quiet V-twin power.
In 2000, Kawasaki introduced the Mule 2510
side-by-side with diesel power. The new unit
offered great fuel economy and increased load
capacity with its liquid-cooled, three-cylinder,
953cc diesel engine. The Mule 2510 featured
dual-mode differential, independent strut-type
front suspension and 4WD, making this heavy-
duty Mule utility vehicle a popular choice on
work sites where diesel is the primary fuel.
“Looks like a truck. Works like a Mule” was
the slogan when Kawasaki introduced the 4WD
Mule 3