KTM X-Bow: Dirt bike king plans Caterham rival

Austrian dirt bike maker KTM is branching out into the four-wheeled world with this, the Dallara-developed X-Bow (pronounced ‘crossbow’). KTM claims that it will be the first non-supercar to have an all-carbon chassis, and while the X-Bow is nominally a road car, it’s really chasing the extreme trackday market.

The circa-£27,000 Caterham rival is likely to be sold without a windscreen or wet-weather protection, partly to help keep weight below 700kg and partly to give non-bikers ‘that KTM feeling’, according to a company spokesman. Apparently the X-Bow ‘sits between a car and a bike and forms the missing link'. There will be space to store two helmets inside the car…Propulsion will come from a mid-mounted, Audi-supplied 2-litre turbocharged FSI four-cylinder that, in basic tune, should produce around 220bhp and in theory is capable of being taken all the way to 320bhp.

Although a working prototype is yet to be built, computer simulations suggest that the X-Bow will sprint from standstill to 60mph in comfortably under four seconds.

Drive is to the rear wheels, either through a six-speed manual or a DSG semi-auto; with an eye to a one-make race series sometime in the future, a sequential gearbox is also under consideration. Another item on the wish list is a limited-slip differential, while the plan is to offer the option of a strengthened, more rigid rear-end that will be eligible for FIA homologation for motorsport use.

KTM is hoping to give the X-Bow its first public airing at the Geneva show in March and then to begin production by the middle of the year. Initially just 100 are planned, in both left- and right-hand drive, all to be made by Dallara (the race car maker) at its factory in Italy. If demand is strong enough then production will be shifted to KTM’s Austrian plant in 2008 and numbers will be ramped up to between 300 and 500 cars per year.

KTM’s somewhat surprising decision to branch into car production is born of a desire to broaden its horizons. The company believes that its penetration of the dirt-bike market has reached saturation point and, while it’s making decent headway into the road-bike sector, it reckons that the splash an extreme sports car will make is an excellent means of exposing the brand to a wider audience. And there’s also the fact that many of the company’s senior directors, together with Gerald Kifka, the design consultant responsible for the X-Bow’s styling, are big sports car fans.

The alliance with Dallara gives the X-Bow project instant credibility and access to 30 years’ experience in designing and developing cars for the race track. Dallara currently produces a raft of sports car racers and open wheelers (F3, Indy and 'World Series by Renault' cars, for instance) and as a consequence is equipped with the latest CAD systems, a pair of wind tunnels and plenty of knowledge of the manufacturing of carbonfibre tubs. The race car maker has not only been involved with the initial engineering design of the X-Bow, but will also be responsible for its dynamic development. The Audi connection stems from ‘an informal friendship’ with the prestige car maker: the respective managements know each other, the company HQs are comparatively close, and many senior Audi bods own KTMs – and vice versa.