Ok, as of yesterday there is now a new vehicle that's on sale in Australia. Thanks to Simply Sports Cars in Sydney and Motorline in Queensland you can now be the proud owner of a KTM X-BOW R. If this car sounds familiar, you may have heard or seen it at the Bathurst 12 hour. My good mate Haydn and I had seen the KTM X-BOW GT4 race car racing around Mt Panorama, and I must say it looked wicked! The road going registered version has been available in other parts of the world for some years, but finally, in 2017 we get to see them on Aussie roads and race tracks.
X-BOW at the launch even at SSC
KTM X-BOW GT4 at the 2017 Bathurst 12 hour
A few weeks ago, Simply Sports Cars had posted on their Facebook page of an upcoming event at their dealership in Artarmon Sydney. The event was for a new vehicle launch and was open to anyone, so I jumped at the chance to attend and clicked on the event page as going.
Upon arrival, I could see a good crowd of people with catering providing food and drink for the event. Simply Sports Cars gave a quick talk about their new venture with KTM. SSC said that they’re looking forward to the opportunity to build new relationships with future X-BOW customers which builds upon their already significant client base of life style car enthusiasts. The KTM X-BOW R will also complement their current Lotus range of cars like the Evora, Exige and the Elise.
After doing some research, I found out that one of the downsides for the X-BOW was there can only be 25 units sold each year. Why would this be the case? It’s because the X-BOW doesn't have the standard features like air bags ABS or traction control. So, to have the X-BOW road legal and registered it follows the Australian Government’s Specialist & Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme. The X-BOW does have ADR certification which means its meets all Australian crash testing standards.
So, if the 25 units sell out before the year has finished, you will have to go on the waiting list. Depending on how you look at it this could be a good problem to have for SSC because it means the car is a winner with car enthusiasts and will maintain exclusive status.
So, let's get into the some of the specification numbers and the cost to buy one of these exclusive X-BOWS. The X-BOW has a four-layered carbon fibre monocoque weighing only 80kg. After you add all the other componentry to the car its total weight without fuel is 790kg. Because of its light weight, it can get from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and has a max speed of 231 km/h; this will come in handy when you're on the race track.
The engine is an Audi TSFI engine; the power fingers for the engine is 220kw or 300hp with a max torque figure of 400Nm. All this power and torque comes from a 4-cylinder direct injection turbocharged engine. You can only get the X-BOW with a six-manual gearbox, could you imagine how much faster it would be down the quarter mile if it had the auto gearbox option as well. It also has Brembo four pistons callipers up front and two pistons callipers out the back. And last but not least the RRP on the X-BOW is $169,990.00 plus on-road costs.
Click here for more info at SSC: Simply Sports Cars Website
Images below:
All images © 2017 Car Hamlet.