KTM Crossbow (X-Bow)

[Bruce Fielding]

I'll bring back what I can from Geneva

[ross]

Thanks Bruce, I may actually pop over myself although that Friday that you're going might be tricky for me unfortunately.

Cheers, Ross.

[KK]

I have talked to the guy responsible for the car at the KTM factory in Austria today - was only a national call . The situation is as follows:

They will definitely produce a first batch of 100 customer cars + 10 for internal use (I guess demonstrators / press cars) starting in autumn this year. Total initial production is therefore 110 cars and will be with Italian Dallara. At the moment they do NOT accept any deposits (despite a lot of people begging to throw money their way), but you may register your interest and you will receive more information in spring this year (after the Geneva show). Expected time of delivery is spring 2008 for the first cars. The real car is allegedly very close to the pictures floating around - so probably not a disappointment (provided you liked the looks of it).

The list of people interested is already close to 100 (I have as of today also registerd my interest in the KTM X-Bow in case I fail to register my Atom in Austria or in case I want more ). The first 100 customers will get a special treatment with special delivery of the X-Bow in Mattighofen (that's where the KTM bike factory is located) together with a factory visit. The car will at least be road legal in Austria.

Right hand drive is definitely on their radar as well as the U.K. market (I asked about that with you U.K. guys in mind), although I did not bother to ask whether they actually plan to make any RHD cars in the first batch of 100 (110 respectively).

Price was officially confirmed to be in the â?¬ 40k range (could be slightly higher in case of additional options, but then there are not too many to be expected: possibly uprated engines up to 300bhp, LSD, a/c . The confirmed price would include VAT (Austria @ 20%), but not the Austrian registration tax which is based upon fuel economy (they expect something in the range of 10% for that).

Ross - if you want a contact name / eMail / phone number at the factory in Austria feel free to drop me a PM.

[ross]

Ok, I just had an email from the people at KTM in Austria confirming a place on waiting list for the pre-series production.

[Bruce Fielding]

I'm waiting to see if I fit, and if it's real.

[g8kam]

[quote="Ross McWilliam"]
Ok, I just had an email from the people at KTM in Austria confirming a place on waiting list for the pre-series production.

[/quote]Just noticed this post now, how do I go about it? Would it be a left hand drive? being a pre-series production.

Thanks in advance.

[M3ichael]

Something to tow the KTM X-Bow.
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/k ... 18896.html

[KK]

There are two new articles about the X-Bow - in German though
One is in Austrian high quality national daily newspaper Die Presse
The other similar one, including a short video (around 1 min) of the model, can be found on the web site of the 2nd high quality national newspaper Der Standard

Pictures / Video show a 1:2.5 model of the car presented in Vienna today. Facts again confirmed as follows:
base version 220 bhp w/ Audi engine, higher specs up to 320 bhp available
3.9 s 0-100 km/h for the Base version

internal development cost so far â?¬ 5m

main markets anticipated: German speaking countries and the U.K.; for the US market there's no decision as of now
first batch of 100 is "almost gone" - I guess that's due to nobody having a contract yet, but the list of interested people is large enough so that they don't see any issues in selling

price in Austria will be "starting from â?¬ 45.000,-" (incl registration tax @ between 7% and 10% [my estimate] and inclusive of VAT @ 20%)
the first real car will be on show in Geneva at the end of March

[g8kam]

Just watched the video clip, and I must say I have mixed feelings regarding the styling, viewing it from the side, the back half of the car seem very heavy....

Its only a model .............the real thing might look better.......

Cheers for the update, Klaus

[KK]

The KTM X-Bow also made it to the night news (ZIB 2). There's a video on-line here. It is really a big thing in Austria as this will be the first Austrian car for quiet some time. Austria however builds upon quiet a bit of heritage (Porsche, Puch).

The video contains a few more shots, an interview with the KTM boss Stefan Pierer plus some history about the company (again everything in German). The KTM X-Bow report ends around the 15:35 minute mark.

What I found quiet interesting is that the gearbox appears to be sequential. It is not really well visible due to the size of the video, but I had the advantage of a large screen in my living room.

Sequential gearbox was something that was always hoovering around. I would however guess that the sequential box might be an optional add-on. For me it makes sense as KTM should have quiet a bit of experience in that area.

[Atom120]

I too have mixed feelings about the styling - hopefully seeing Ross's in the flesh will make up my mind!

[Bruce Fielding]

I'll wait until I see it / sit in it in Geneva - it's only just over four weeks away!

[Alec]

I see it's available in Presidential Orange. 

[KK]

[quote="Alec"]
I see it's available in Presidential Orange. 
[/quote]
Alec - Austrian's would never accept the colour to be named Presidential Orange - what you have seen is definitely KTM orange

[g8kam]

......the sequential gearbox your refering to might be Audi's own DSG gearbox, which is no bad thing!!

[quote="Atom120"]
I too have mixed feelings about the styling - hopefully seeing Ross's in the flesh will make up my mind!
[/quote]........or you could look at mine in the flesh, Andy

I'm sure Ross will post up some pics at the Geneva's motorshow!!!