Has the title got you all excited? Well, it should. KTM CEO, Stefan Pierer has confirmed that they will be entering a new 500cc segment. Globally, and especially in emerging markets, the middle-weight motorcycle segment is showing interesting growth trends, and KTM wants a piece of this pie. 500cc-800cc class motorcycles are on the rise, and KTM is getting ready to add products in this space.
KTM CEO has revealed that these 500cc, Twin-Cylinder motorcycles will be built by Bajaj Auto. Bajaj will manufacture these bikes in India, just like they manufacture the smaller KTM motorcycles which include the KTM Duke & RC series ranging from 125cc, 200cc, 250cc & the 390 siblings. All these bikes are also sold in India. So it makes perfect business sense, that when KTM and Bajaj builds the 500cc, twin-cylinder model in India, it will also be sold here to us.
There is no clarity as to what bike it will be in specific. But we can expect a 500 Duke and a 500 Adventure for sure. Will we see a RC 500? Time will tell as sharp sportsbikes are not really growing in number. The naked street motorcycles are being accepted faster. Nevertheless, a positive story which we should wait to unfold.
There have been rumours that KTM will be launching the 790 Duke here in India. But there is no concrete detail on the same, and it seems unlikely that this will happen anytime soon. Meanwhile, for the first time, the next generation KTM RC 390 was spotted testing. This will be sold as a 2020 model, and looks like it is an all-new motorcycle, of course with the same / reworked 373cc engine.
Exciting times for sure! Thank you KTM.