Although we recently reported the KTM X-Bow was almost certainly dead, it may have a new lease on life. Bajaj, which bought out KTM, wants the brand to focus on motorcycles, so it’s sold KTM Sportcar GmbH to a separate group of investors, hopefully saving the X-Bow sports car. KTM will continue to license its name and be involved with the X-Bow in some way, but KTM Sportcar GmbH will run independently of the main company. The X-Bow was always a strange duck in KTM’s lineup, so this makes a great deal of sense.
KTM confirmed to Austria’s Industrie Magazin that the De Mevius family, better known for the beer mega-conglomerate AB InBev, is heading up negotiations, along with other anonymous investors. “AB” stands for Anheuser-Busch, which is just one of more than 500 brands the company owns that make it the largest brewer in the world. This may seem like an unlikely pairing, but the De Mevius family is actively involved in motorsports. Gregoire De Mevius is a long-time rally and Dakar competitor who still enters the occasional rally today. His sons, Guillaume and Ghislain, continue racing in his dusty footsteps.
A new lineup
While the X-Bow has evolved over the years, it’s difficult for a car company to survive with only one model in the lineup (just ask Saturn). The new owners plan to address that by adding new models, or at least variants, to give buyers a bit more selection. This will include not only the current track-focused models, but also street-legal supersports, which seems a natural expansion. Cars like the Radical SR3 have already gone there. While not a great grocery getter, you could at least drive it to the track, where you could enjoy its full capabilities without going directly to jail afterward.
The new ownership also intends to expand the X-Bow range in a less intuitive direction with off-road offerings. This may seem weird for a track car, but given the De Mevius family’s rally and Dakar history, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where they’re going with this. Imagine X-Bow given the Rally Fighter treatment, attacking rally stages or jumping desert dunes. Perhaps different versions would be available for each discipline, similar to KTM’s different motorcycle offerings for motocross, enduro, and cross country based on the same platforms. We’re just speculating, as no details are yet available, but it would be great to see KTM tackling the stages on four wheels as well as two. Regardless, it seems that, like the man on the cart in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the X-Bow isn’t quite dead yet.
h/t RideApart