KTM has dumped the 490 platform, which was announced a few years ago. According to CEO Stefan Pierer, the costs did not outweigh the benefits and an alternative is now being looked at.
In 2019, Stefan Pierer already confirmed in an exclusive interview that a new 500cc twin was being worked on at the Bajaj R&D in Pune, which was to fill the gap between the 390 and the 790.
According to Pierer, the 500cc platform, which was announced as a 490 platform in a KTM investor presentation, was similar in format to the 790 platform, but with a smaller displacement. On the one hand because, according to Pierer, 500cc is the future in emerging markets, and on the other hand because of the A2 driving license in Europe.
The platform would consist of a 490 Duke, RC 490 and 490 Adventure at KTM, as well as a 490 Supermoto and 490 Enduro, but would also be used in future Husqvarna models.
However, during the festive unveiling of the 1 millionth KTM produced in India at Bajaj, a 390 Adventure, Stefan Pierer told Autocar India’s Indian colleagues that the entire project has been halted.
It is a guess as to the exact motives for pulling the plug on the project, Ing. Hubert Trunkenpolz, member of the board of directors of KTM AG, told Motorrad’s German colleagues that the decision was made to respond quickly to market developments, but did not say which developments he meant.
The uncertain future of combustion engines may well have played an important role in this. For cars, the end date of the combustion engine has already been set in Brussels, it is only a matter of time before motorcycles have to suffer the same fate.
That uncertainty may have been one of the reasons KTM shut down the 490 platform. Development costs for a new engine block are very expensive (that’s the reason why people only think in terms of platforms, so that a block can be used in several models) and when the accountant discovers that the production number is expected to be less than the break-even point, the costs do not outweigh the benefits.
However, this does not mean that there will not be a new platform, just not in the form as Pierer explained to Motorfreaks in 2019. Pierre & co. are still looking for a platform to close the gap between the current 390 single cylinder and the 790 parallel twin, but in a cheaper way.
KTM is now exploring the plan to downsize the existing 790 twin to a displacement close to 690cc. On the one hand, the development costs will be lower, on the other hand, 70 horsepower can easily be extracted from that cylinder capacity, with which KTM could become a strong competitor against the MT-07 and Z650, which currently rule the middle class.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.