To develop the form, a 40% clay model was produced at Kiska in Austria, which was then digitised and milled on a rapid prototyping machine at Dallara in Italy for aerodynamic testing, with results fed back directly to Austria. Here, the design was evolved in clay and then wired back to be milled again in Italy. This iterative process happened 5 times from May to September when the design was finally signed off.

In parallel to the aerodynamic and final form development, Kiska was developing a production-feasible design that met European homologation requirements that are clearly geared to mass produced sedans. For a company that until then had only produced motorbike designs and initial sketch proposals for cars, this was a steep learning curve. Over the summer of 2006 Kiska also worked with suppliers to develop smaller components, including the innovative steering wheel that Petersson designed, which includes controls for horn, lights, and indicators not present on the similar Audi endurance racer steering wheel that their supplier Megaline had previously developed. And whilst the extrovert surfacing of the car is the most obvious quality of the design, it is the resolution of these details that sets the X-Bow apart from almost all other low volume car designs.

"It's not a kit car - this was one of the main rules we want to apply" Stassin told Car Design News. Clearly Kiska, KTM and Stassin mean to differentiate themselves through design - particularly design detailing - from such cars as the Caterham Seven and Donkervoort, and even the Lotus Elise and Ariel Atom, by not having any obvious carry-over design details: the lights with their bespoke framing of Hella units are further testimony to this.

But Stassin is also keen to emphasise that Kiska's attention to detail goes beyond the X-Bow itself and extends to the design of the KTM Geneva show stand, the press information, the promotional movie and other marketing material - all part of what Kiska term IDD: Integrated Design Development.

Clearly, the design development of X-Bow is a rare project, where one design team takes a project through from conception to realisation with plenty of autonomy, without having to contend with typical factors such as heritage, external engineering groups, client marketing department, sibling or predecessor products. And it is this, combined with the potency of the design, that  makes the X-Bow story quite unique. Stassin sums it up well:  "I often say that it is the kind of project that if you do it once you should be very happy".

Update: KTM announced yesterday that production of the X-Bow will now start in early 2008 with Magna Steyr, instead of the company's original plan to wait until completion of the pilot run of 100 cars by Dellara before committing to series production. These initial 100 cars will still be produced, but with 600 orders already, KTM will strive to reach maximum production capacity of about 1000 in 2008 and expects to continue with a volume of more than 500 units.

We hope to bring you a Driving Design Review of the X-Bow later this year.

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KTM X-Bow - Geneva 2006