A little over 10 months ago, we brought you the first news about KTM’s planned mid-sized lineup, with KTM CEO Stefan Pierer spilling the beans that his company was working on a new 500cc twin-cylinder platform.
Now it seems, the first of these “490” models is getting close to prime time, and we can expect five motorcycles in total to come from this new parallel-twin lineup.
Our colleagues over at Indian Autos Blog report that the machines are getting closer to production, and we could see the following machines using the new engine:
- KTM 490 Duke
- KTM RC 490
- KTM 490 Adventure
- KTM 490 Supermoto (490 SMC/SMT?)
- KTM 490 Enduro (490 ECX?)
The Indians are reporting that the 490 platform is lined up to replace the 390 platform, which could be KTM’s way of handling the upcoming change to the Euro5 emissions regulations.
That being said though, Indian Autos Blog reports that we could see machines with 55hp to 60hp, which is a sizable bump from what the single-cylinder engine is capable of producing.
Our guess is that the 490 lineup will slot in between the 390 platform and what KTM is doing with its 690 and 790 (and soon to be 890) engines.
The models will likely be A2 license compliant for the European market, but the real focus is likely for the Asian continent, where 500cc machines are considered “big displacement” machines.
How these machines will slot into the European and American markets remains to be seen, though with the right formula (have you seen what Aprilia is doing with the RS660 concept?), the result could be intriguing.
The big question now is whether or not we will see the first of KTM’s 490 machines at this year’s EICMA show in Milan. The timing seems to suggest it is possible, though that would represent a quick development timeline from the Austrian brand.
Considering that KTM is said to be working with Bajaj, its Indian partner and minority owner, a quick development cycle seems overly ambitious. But, crazier things have happened.
Source: Indian Autos Blog
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