Monday, January 14, 2008

Bajaj Auto To Unveil KTM Sport Bikes

New Delhi: Austria''s top sports bike maker KTM said its Indian partner Bajaj Auto is unveiling the bikes via a local assembly line. The locally built vehicles will be obtainable at cheaper and attractive price tags. Bajaj''s 690 Supermoto and 690 Duke would be assembled at the Chakan plant in Pune. The Pune-based auto company is also planning to build Ninja 250 bike, another high performance bike, with its long time collaborator Kawasaki. The alliance has also promised to work on joint platforms, which would be used for Indian and overseas market. The bike, despite being locally assembled, will be quite expensive for the Indian markets. The 690 Supermoto, 690 Duke and Ninja 250 would be brought to India as completely knocked down (CKD) or semi knocked down (SKD) kits.

Bajaj''s 690 Supermoto will be unveiled by the middle of this calender year, along with RC8 motorcycle, which would purely be an import. The Pune-based company bought 14.5 per cent direct stake in KTM through its 100 per cent Netherlands-based subsidiary Bajaj Auto International Holdings BV. The company has now hiked its stake to 20.89 per cent and Rajiv Bajaj has been inducted on the KTM board.

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