The Austrian motorcycle and sports car manufacturer KTM is in dire straits. It has to reorganize and sell its car division to Verlinvest, the investing firm of the well-known Belgian family De Mevius.
KTM is known as a motorcycle manufacturer, but twenty years ago, it launched the X-Bow, a barchetta-style open sports car designed to deliver the highest level of driving pleasure, preferably on race tracks. Since its launch, the car has never achieved high sales numbers, but now the situation has become particularly worrisome; last year, KTM sold only 36 units.
Ambitious
The X-Bow project at the time was the big dream of former KTM CEO Stefan Pierer. With this vehicle, he wanted to compete with established makes like BMW, which produces cars as well as motorcycles. Ultimately, the car division never achieved sufficient success to generate a profit.
Now that KTM, as a whole, has problems keeping its head above water, the current CEO, Gottfried Neumeister, has finally sold its four-wheeler division. KTM will again completely concentrate on two-wheelers, its core business.
Big challenge
As already mentioned, the De Mevius family is well-known in Belgium. It’s one of the shareholders in the brewery giant AB InBev, and some of its family members have made a name in motorsport, both on the circuits and in rallying.
It’s not yet known what the plans of the new owner will be, but the big challenge will, of course, be generating revenue from the production of these highly specialized sports cars.
There are talks about a more international breakthrough and the introduction of vehicles that fit more easily on common roads than the very extreme X-Bow. There are also thoughts about off-road variants… To be continued.
Crossbow
KTM presented the X-Bow (pronounced ‘crossbow’) in late 2008, not exactly the best year to launch a new product, given the worldwide financial crisis. The first car was a completely open roadster, even without a windscreen or doors. Users were advised to wear a helmet at all times.
To keep the weight low (±800 kg), the X-Bow employed many lightweight techniques coming from the motorcycle industry. The car features a monocoque chassis made of carbon fiber and was initially powered by a 220 hp potent Audi 4-cylinder TFSI engine, later evolving to a 300 hp version.
Needless to say, this combination guarantees spectacular performances, like a top speed of 280 kph and a sprint to 100 kph in some 3.5 seconds.
Later, other derivatives were added, such as the GT with a closed cockpit for improved practicality on regular roads, and the completely redesigned GTX. There were also real circuit versions, such as the GT2 and the GT4.
The GTX features the renowned Audi in-line five-cylinder turbo engine, producing 530 hp, for a net car weight of 1,048 kg. These cars, in racing trim, can compete against high-profile super sports cars in terms of power-to-weight ratio, cornering speed, stopping distance, top speed, and, last but not least, lap times.
