ATV market embraces KTM

It appears that KTM’s first foray into the world of ATVs has been an early success.

The Austrian-based motorcycle manufacturer released a pair of sport quad ATVs in August and the results have been promising.

“Demand has been excellent,” KTM’s product line manager John Hinz told ATV.com. “We’ve been extremely pleased with consumer response.’’

Both the 450 XC and the 525 XC are intended to be high-performance machines.

“KTM arrives with a product that can be raced out of the box,” KTM spokesperson Florian Burguet told ATV.com. “You take them out of the box, race with them and win.”

KTM will have an ATV factory racing team in 2008 that will ride the new quads.

The 2008 KTM models are designed for cross country and trail riding, but Burguet says they will introduce a model in 2009 that is aimed at the motocross rider.

“We are going to have a model next year that will be pure, hard-core motocross, dedicated to supecross and motocross,” says Burguet.