KTM postpones Venom production

The Austrian manufacturer KTM announced that their Venom project has been put on hold for as long as it takes to make a success out of the RC8 superbike. A naked superbike, the Venom was first unveiled at the 2005 EICMA Show in Milan and was supposed to go into production as a 2009 model year. Thomas Kuttruf, Public Relations Manager at KTM, told MCN why this won’t happen so soon:

“The bike is standing in Kiska’s (Gerald Kiska, the man behind the design company responsible for the look of all KTMs) office, but is currently a no-go for production.

With the Venom project we had the idea to make a naked superbike, we still think this idea is worth following and the project is not stopped, but it is a bit on hold.

“The clear priority for us at the moment and the clear idea from the Stefan Pierer was to say ‘guys, before we have a naked superbike, we must have a successful real superbike.’