KTM X-Bow GT-XR

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KTM’s second road-legal car./

KTM X-Bow GT-XR is £245k GT2 racer for the road

Austrian manufacturer launches second road-legal car, following the open-top X-Bow

Car and bike maker KTM has launched a road-legal version of its title-winning X-Bow GT2 race car, complete with a super-lightweight 80kg chassis and 493bhp powerplant.

Called the X-Bow GT-XR, this low-volume lightweight will rival the likes of the Dallara Stradale and Radical Rapture. It is the Austrian firm's second road-legal car after the open-top KTM X-Bow, which has been sold in various forms since 2008.

The GT-XR shares much of its underpinnings with the GT2 race car and, fundamentally, it is based around the same Dallara-designed 80kg carbonfibre monocoque as the original X-Bow, which, KTM says, "has been tried and tested in a dozen crashes since 2008". For the hard-top car, it's paired with an FIA-approved steel roll cage, which leaves kerb weight at 1130 kg.

A jet fighter-style canopy lid made of carbonfibre provides access to the cabin. Small glass windows at the side can also be fully opened. Inside, the same removable racing-style steering wheel as the GT2 is fitted.

The GT-XR also shares the racing car's 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine, albeit detuned from the GT2 racer’s 600bhp and 531lb ft. It is no slouch, though, with the rear-mounted turbocharged powerplant – also used by the Audi RS3 – putting out 493bhp and 429lb ft and reving to 7000rpm.

A lot of that torque can be used at low revs, KTM says, pushing the car to 62mph from standing in 3.4sec, and from 62mph to 124mph in 6.9sec. Speed maxes out at 174mph.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/ktm-x-bow-gt-xr-£245k-gt2-racer-road

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Did not expect a second car outing from them at all.

Looks very cool.

But why Is it not orange?
 
The KTM X-Bow GT-XR is a 486bhp GT2-inspired road car

KTM returns with a mad-looking X-Bow complete with ‘electric jet fighter canopy’. Oh yes

Big news people, those madcap Austrians over at KTM are back in the road car game. Hurrah! Welcome to the new KTM X-Bow GT-XR.

Looks suitably... KTM, too. The company has been campaigning the similar-looking X-Bow GT2 for a year or so already, but the GT-XR is a proper road car with an (optional) hydraulic lift for speed bumps, an air conditioned cabin, Bluetooth phone connectivity, a 160-litre boot and even a glovebox. Super practical.

That’s all fairly boring though, isn’t it? You want to know about the motorsport bits. Underneath there’s an evolution of the carbon monocoque that underpinned the first X-Bow in the late 2000s. It’s super strong and weighs just 89kg, with the engine housed in a tubular steel rear frame.

Said engine is Audi’s brilliant 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder from the RS3, which here makes 486bhp and 429lb ft of torque. The whole thing only weighs 1,250kg too, so it should be rocketship quick. KTM quotes a top speed of 174mph.


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KTM has facelifted its bonkers X-Bow GT-XR by removing the roof and fitting wing mirrors

And there’s a new GT-XR EVO with extra power and aero. Hurrah!

KTM has been in the trackday supercar game for years. You’ll remember its first bug-eyed, windscreenless X-Bow from all the way back in 2008, and then in 2022 it made a triumphant return with the hard-topped, five-cylinder X-Bow GT-XR.

But financial problems in the last couple of years forced the Austrian motorcycle maker to sell off its sports car business, and in August 2025 it was announced that the four-wheeled side of the company had been bought by a Belgian investor group led by rally driver Guillaume De Mevius. His family was one of the original founders of AB InBev – now the world’s largest beer and brewing company. Wonder how many pints he’d had before buying himself a car company?

Anyway, the newly formed and clunkily titled company ‘KTM X-BOW Onroad GmbH’ has been operational for 12 months now, and it would seem as though it has spent that time tweaking and updating the X-Bow GT-XR.

So, from now on every X-Bow will get a new Capristo exhaust and carbon wingmirrors as standard, although you can still have the previous camera-based rearview system as an option. Every car will also get a 7.0in central screen with an integrated sound system and even Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Yep, in an X-Bow!

 
KTM X-Bow boosted to 592bhp in first update under new owner

More power and tech upgrade are first changes since Austrian motorcycle maker sold its sports car division

The KTM X-Bow GT-XR has been updated for the first time since the sports car division of the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer entered new ownership last year.

Officially named KTM X-Bow Onroad GmbH, the division was sold after financial headwinds pushed KTM into a period of ‘self-administration’ and eventually an acquisition by Indian partner Bajaj.

The buyer was a Belgian investment group led by rally driver Guillaume de Mévius, whose family holds a significant stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, parent firm of brewers including Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois.

Chief among the updates to the X-Bow is the addition of new Factory 600 and Evo specifications, which extract yet more performance from the lightweight supercar.

The Factory 600 package brings an uprated intake manifold, turbocharger and intercooler, boosting the Audi-sourced 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine by 99bhp to 592bhp.

 
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