Last year KTM CEO Stefan Pierer officially made a statement that they were developing a parallel twin-cylinder 490cc segment bike in collaboration with Bajaj Auto. It creates much hype among moto enthusiasts and a couple of patents were leaked. But the disappointing thing is KTM finally reveals that they were not interested in making the much-awaited 490cc bikes.
Because the development of the new engine and design costs were getting too high. So, KTM decided not to invest much in low-segment motorcycles because instead of that they would like to develop a 690ccc bike.
This was the main reason to shut down all operations of making 490cc bikes. It was really bad news for KTM lovers who were awaited to upgrade from duke 390 to 490cc, eventually, their hopes were down.
Now KTM focuses on manufacturing a naked street fighter duke 690 and is likely to announce many details in the first quarter of the year. Actually, they were planning to develop a powerful twin-cylinder 690cc engine which is expected to make above 80HP. Then this upcoming twin-cylinder duke 690 will compete against Yamaha MT-07 and Triumph Trident 660.
