Friday, March 2, 2012
2008 KTM X-Bow Spied On The Ring
K-Bow introduced their X-Bow at the Geneva Auto Show in February 2007, showing us what the first 100 of these superlight sports cars would look like. While the first 100 will be built by Dallara, and carry a special number badge, the rest of the production will take place in Austria, home of KTM. This introductory lot has already been sold.
One of our excellent spy photographers caught the higher production version of the KTM X-Bow on the Nürburgring earlier today performing some handling tests. Australian motorcycle manufacturer KTM will again sell the street-ready track car starting February 2008.
The X-Bow will come out with an Audi 2.0 litre four-banger engine churning out 240 horsepower. While that may not sound like a massive amount of power, the fact needs to be put in context.
KTM's motorcycle-on-four-wheels weighs a mere 721 kilograms (1589 pounds). This means the X-Bow has a power-to-weight ratio of .151 (333 bhp per tonne), and goes 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. What's more is that this car may even get a more powerful engine taken from an Audi S3, bursting with 300 brake horsepower, making the power-to-weight ratio .189 (416 bhp per tonne).
The car will be street-legal in Finland (thanks to intense lobbying from WorldCarFans), as well as other countries, including Austria, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugual, and Switzerland. Sorry Americans; looks like you guys might be out of luck.
Base price of the KTM X-Bow is $65,000. First deliveries are expected in spring 2008.
