Made-in-India KTM Duke 390 launched

Pune, June 25, 2013: Bajaj Auto has rolled out its second KTM offering for the Indian market, the naked streetbike, KTM Duke 390.

Pricing the new bike competitively, the company has announced that the almost entirely made-in-India KTM model will retail at Rs 1.8 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). According to company officials, the model will attract buyers of available sports bikes such as the Yamaha R15, Honda CBR 150R and CBR250R, Hyosung GT250R and GT650R and tourers such as Royal Enfield motorcycles. Also, they anticipate a good chunk of demand coming from current KTM Duke 200 riders who would want to upgrade to the bigger model. The KTM Duke 390 is powered by a 373.2cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine which is capable of delivering up to 44bhp at 9000rpm of power and a peak torque of 3.57kgm at 7000rpm. Weighing just 139kg, the model with 316.5bhp per tonne has the highest power-to- weight ratio in its class.

Explaining the differences in the engines of the Duke 390 and Duke 200, Amit Nandi, vice- president, Bajaj Probiking elaborated that “the Duke 390’s engine carries nearly 95 percent new components, liquid cooling, taller gearing and uses low friction Nikasil coating and forged piston as compared to cast piston in the Duke 200 model.” “The KTM 390 is conceived, developed at Bajaj Auto’s R&D at Akurdi and manufactured at Chakan. These models are not made in India because manufacturing in India is cheap. But because they share the platform with the Pulsar bikes, they reap the advantages of large economies of scale of operations and supplier base,” elucidated Rajiv Bajaj. A total of 107,000 KTM models were sold globally last year, of which around 35,000 units (Duke 200 and Duke 125) were made in India. Of that, according to the officials, 7,500 units were sold in India and nearly 27,500 units were exported.

Bajaj Auto will open the bookings of the KTM Duke 390 from tomorrow at each of its existing 72 Probiking outlets.

AMIT PANDAY

Photograph: Rajiv Bajaj and Amit Nandi at the launch in Pune.