Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/972780
KTM + CFMOTO: WEST MEETS EAST P110 Feature brand name (the KTM trademark had been hijacked by a speculator, who wanted several million dollars to release it!). But now that collaboration is about to become much more intensive, after the signing on October 11 last year in Hangzhou by Stefan Pierer and Lai Guogui of an agree- ment establishing a joint venture/JV company known as CFMoto-KTMR2R, in which CFMoto holds a majority stake of 51%, with the remaining 49% held by KTM. This was originally presented in best anodyne corpo- rate PR-speak as being to "not only strengthen KTM's appearance in the Chinese market, but also collectively develop and manufacture products to continue the global expansion course." However, this disguises a much more significant strategy, which will see Hang- zhou become KTM's third global manufacturing site (as opposed to CKD assembly only) from 2020/21 onwards, alongside Mattighofen and Pune. For its own models CFMoto has purchased KTM's entire first-gen- eration LC8 990 engine platform, which first appeared in carbureted 942cc form in 2003, then increased in capacity to 990 guise in 2006, now boasting EFI instead of carbs and delivering 98 bhp. This Dakar-win- ning motor (Fabrizio Meoni in 2002) formed the basis of KTM's original twin-cylinder customer range launched in 2003, until it was replaced by the all-new 1190 version in 2013, having been progressively improved during its 10-year lifespan to eventually deliver 116 bhp. CFMoto now has exclusive use of this engine to power a range of models bearing its own name, which initially at least will be exclusively aimed at the Chinese market, but as its president Lai Guogui is eager to underline, the Chinese manufacturer will itself develop a revised version of the KTM 990 motor in order to achieve this. Its engineers have been working with their counterparts at KTM on modifying this engine before it goes into production in China, when it's reliably understood that the actual displacement will be around 1080cc, and that both power and torque will be higher than the original KTM 990 engine. In preparation for manufacturing this range of models, ground was broken early in March this year on construc- tion of an all-new manufacturing plant The CFMoto V.02 NK Concept bike was the company's way of proving it is capable of producing a large- displacement motorcycle.