KTM 790 Duke - Exclusive News!

Things are heating up as KTM India readies the much-awaited middleweight scalpel for its India launch next month!

The KTM 790 Duke is out this month! Yes, at the end of April 2019! An all-new advanced assembly line is being set up entirely as per KTM standards and a sizeable team of KTM officials from Austria will be supervising and managing the operation for the same at Bajaj Auto’s Akurdi plant.

An internal company source confirmed that the 790 Duke will be a CKD unit with certain parts being localised. Components like the lights will come from Minda, and indicators, wiring and other parts will be locally sourced, too. Major components comprising engine, chassis, and suspensions will be directly imported into the country. The first 100 units of the bike have already arrived at the Akurdi plant for R&D and tooling as well as service training purposes. The plant is said to begin operations by mid-April and the launch has been planned soon after that.

The KTM 790 Duke dubbed ‘The Scalpel’ is powered by KTM’s all-new 799cc LC8c parallel-twin engine (the small ‘c’ denoting ‘compact’ to distinguish it from KTM’s previous LC8 V-twin engine family). With 105 horses on tap at 9000 rpm and 8.8 kgm of torque coming in at 8000 rpm, the 790 Duke is a middleweight streetfighter machine going straight against the likes of the Triumph Street Triple and the Kawasaki Z900.