KTM X-BOW: The high-performance sports car racing into the future

KTM began in 1934 as an Austrian car repair shop ran by engineer Johann (Hans) Trunkenpolz. After WWII, Johann began building prototype motorcycles. The first bike, the R100, started serial production in 1953. At the time, there was only 20 employees, and only three motorbikes were made a day. Nowadays, KTM employs more than 800 people across the globe, and is a leader in sports vehicle production. The company has also expanded into street motorcycle production and developing sports cars – namely the X-Bow.

As Laura walked us through the KTM X-Bow centre, she shows us where the history of the car started; “Here, we have the 2008 original crossbow where history starts for the brand. We [also] have the newest model to the right side, the GTXR, which has been released last year. The Open Top Crossbow, the Crossbow R, was developed very quickly and was then introduced at the Automobile Salon in Genf, where the reputation was extremely positive. And 2016, we then established a GT4 car, the KTM Crossroad GT4, which was a real racing car. A few years later, we thought, okay, we need a new engine. We need more power. We changed to the five-cylinder engine installed an established the GTX GT2 race cars. And from then on, we went on and introduced the GTX R last year.

“KTM Crossbow has always. ready to race in the DNA. So that has been the main focus, which brought us to a very different approach to things. We produce around a hundred cars a year maximum. You can individualize the brake callipers in every color you want. You can choose your stitching in every color you want. Individualization has nearly no limits for our brand. If you look at the inside, we have a a seat which is FIA homologated which secures extra safety. The whole car is out of monocoque, we have a removable steering wheel… if we're heading back a little bit we come to the heart of the car, the Audi five-cylinder engine which is just under the engine cover here. For the design, we work with Kiska. Kiska has been a long-term partner of KTM, developing or designing the motorcycles, designing the first crossbows already. Kiska has always been brave in finding a ready to race shape which is aggressive but, street homologated, with curves and everything.

“Obviously with the car, you're always the underdog. We're racing against huge brands like Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, and everything. And KTM Crossbow is establishing its name in the racing world. We're driving huge races, 24 hours of Nürburgring and 12 hours of Bathurst and everything. Huge international races since many, many years. We already have won championships and are leading championships right now, currently with the car. And somehow you're the underdog, spectators are very curious about the car because some of them have not seen it yet.

“One thing which has always been unique with the car is we're working a lot with carbon fibre. It's flexible, it's very safe, it's a very good material to work with. And this gives us the possibility to focus on lightweight technology. The cars, way, not more than 1130 kilos, which is nothing for road car. We have the monocoque technology…you can imagine how the formula one car looks. And if there is a crash, which we don't like to see…there's like a cocoon in where the driver sits. That's the monocoque. That's the safest thing you can have in the car to protect the driver…every car you see out there in the showroom has a monocoque technology improving the driver's safety in road cars and in racing cars.”

Our expert Mark Lobo discusses how Windchill and Creo is helping KTM with its manufacturing: “…there's really a big challenge for automotive OEMs today, whether they're designing and manufacturing a high-performance super sports car or a long haul truck. One of the key challenges is managing complexity. Complexity is everywhere. To accelerate a product launch and really to be first to market, these companies must connect all the upstream and downstream stakeholders from design all the way to the shop flow. It's not easy. With Windchill, KTM is able to get to the market faster, improve quality and safety, while reducing cost and risk across all of their products. The end result is this realization of this fantastic vehicle called the X-Bow.”