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KTM’s CEO Stefan Pierer has announced the development of a new 500cc, twin-cylinder platform. While, its manufacturing will be handled by Bajaj Auto at its production facility in Hosur, Pune. it is being believed that this new platform will bring a commotion in the biking industry via pushing KTM’s sales in near future. Also, there are chances that it will make the Austrian bikemaker to stand on the podium beside Yamaha and Honda for the third place in largest motorcycle manufacturer globally by the year 2020. Well, there are no words, which category of bike this platform will serve. It could be an adventure, naked or a faired one or the company will use the platform to spawn out multiple variants. The revealing will tell the truth, we just can wait and watch.
In a media meet with SpeedWeek, Mr Pierer reiterated that the company will continue to focus on a single and twin cylinder motorcycles. Further for the mid-capacity motorcycles, he said, “The theme is a 790 adventure. We want to sell 15,000 of them next year; the middle class is becoming more important. In this segment, we will come to other models, an SMT and so on. In the 500 cc class, we will bring a two-cylinder machine, which is manufactured by our partner Bajaj in India and with which we compete against the Japanese. Growth is happening in the emerging markets today, and in these emerging markets ‘premium’ is the mid-range of 500 to 800 cc.”
While his views for the future of the motorcycle market, were, “New homologation challenges await us – for example, we have Euro 5. In 2024, the issue of noise will come up. It is also in the demographic development in Europe. Today you have to go to Asia with the motorcycle business, to India. If you are not successful there, you will eventually be gone.
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