KEY POINTS:
Austrian motorcycle company K" has a string of technological firsts on two wheels - now it is breaking new ground on four.
Europe's second-biggest motorcycle-maker will launch its first car in New Zealand next year, a track-focused design described as a cross between a snowmobile and - Holy Toledo - the Batmobile.
It's called the X-Bow (crossbow), a two-seater aimed at the growing market in race-ready cars for weekend driving enthusiasts.
The X-Bow is expected to cost upwards of $80,000 when it lands in New Zealand. It was designed by K" partner Kiska Design and built with the help of Dallara, the Italian maker of open-wheel racing cars. The Volkswagen Group supplied the powertrain and running gear.
X-Bow is a carbon-fibre tub powered by a rear-mounted, 2-litre turbocharged Audi four-cylinder engine, delivering around 165kW (220bhp). More powerful variants chipped to produce 195kW and 225kW will also be available. The X-Bow is said to sprint from zero to 100km/h in about 3.8 seconds, the same time as a Porsche 911 Turbo.
The car weighs 726kg with a six-speed manual gearbox and 747kg with the VW Group's twin-clutch direct-shift gearbox. The fuel tank has a capacity of 41 litres.
Weight is split 37 per cent front/63 per cent rear. X-Bow is 3.6m long, 1.8m wide and just over 1m high. The wheelbase is 2.4m. The carbon-fibre tub weights 70kg and features an integral crashworthy structure.
The wishbone-type suspension arms have been fabricated from aerodynamic sections of steel and the front, racing-type pushrod suspension units improve packaging.
The X-Bow first appeared at the Geneva Motor Show last March. Response to the car was frenzied, said K", and it immediately began production of the first 100 cars. Since then, another 600 cars have been ordered. Originally, so the story goes, the X-Bow was going to be a joint KTM-Audi project. But Audi didn't want to put its four-ringed badge on a car that didn't have street-legal safety equipment. The X-Bow is a go-fast, bare bones track car. The seat shells are integrated directly into the carbon-fibre tub. There are no airbags. Nor is there a windscreen, just a couple of wind deflectors. The only things the X-Bow carries outside driver and passenger is a first aid kit and a can of sealer for a flat tyre.
But X-Bow owners get matching helmets and race overalls. The helmets are wired for sound, linking the driver to pit lane or an iPod.
