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Can?t wait for the KTM-Bajaj to hit our roads? Here?s something to chew on until then!By:Alan Cathcart |Published :April 01, 2011

Don’t dismiss the new KTM 125 Duke just because it’s ‘only’ a 125 street single. Because this motorcycle, launched at Intermot 2010, might actually be the most significant and important new motorcycle launched on planet Earth in this century. Here’s why.

The new downsized Duke is the first fruit of joint labour between the second-largest motorcycle manufacturers in both India and Europe. On April 16 this year, Bajaj brought its shareholding in KTM up to a total of 35.67 per cent. By any standards, that makes the Indian company – the fourth-largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world – a key influence in the future direction taken by KTM under its majority owner, Cross Industries. East meets West.

‘In my opinion, the biggest single challenge for today’s motorcycle manufacturers is this: how can we direct our future products towards a younger customer?’ says KTM president Stefan Pierer. ‘One way is the Zero Emission segment, our electric-driven off-road competition bikes, which could attract new, young customers. But the first and most important thing for us is the 125cc class, so let’s make cool, affordable, entry-level bikes which display the brand image, and that’s what we’re doing in conjunction with our partners, Bajaj, in creating and marketing the 125 Duke. If this also lets us expand globally by approaching emerging markets, that’s a bonus. But the main thing is to get young people on motorcycles for the first time and then to keep them riding, preferably with KTM, as they progress through life and up the capacity scale.’

That summarises KTM’s strategy with the 125 Duke, but there’s a key word in there: affordable. The contribution of Bajaj to this strategy can’t be overestimated, after it was decided in 2008 that KTM would engineer the motorcycle, their close allies, Kiska Design in Salzburg, would design it, Bajaj and KTM would jointly develop it and Bajaj would manufacture it in their vast modern factory in Pune. ‘Our design brief was to produce a lower-priced KTM made in India, which still delivered what the customer expected from us in quality and performance,’ said Robert Prielinger, KTM’s head of R&D for the 125 Duke project.

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