Who Makes KTM Engines And Are They The Same As CFMoto's?

For American buyers, KTM's engines are produced across three distinct locations: Mattighofen, Austria; Bajaj's plants in India; and the KTM–CFMoto joint venture (JV) factory in Hangzhou, China. The split supply chain reflects KTM's product segmentation, which means the company divides where its engines are made based on the type or segment of motorcycle that is being produced. So instead of one factory building everything, KTM strategically assigns different engine families to different production partners. 

For instance, its high-end and large-displacement bikes are mainly designed and manufactured in Austria, small 125–390 cc commuter and entry-level models in India, and select middleweight 790 cc and LC8c parallel twin engines are built under license by CFMoto at its manufacturing facilities in China. Licensed production means that some of the KTM powerplants arriving in the U.S. are essentially the same design as CFMoto uses in its own cheaper models. while other KTM engines that come from the Austrian or Indian factories keep their same production origin and standards.

The partnership between KTM and CFMoto is beneficial because it brings KTM's engine designs, tools, and production methods into CFMoto's China plant, maximizing the same engineering heritage seen in some of the best KTM motorcycles ever made. It's a pretty straightforward process actually. KTM provides the detailed specs, crank and bearing clearances, along with valve timing windows, combustion-chamber geometry, and machining tolerances, the JV will then take those procedures and run them on its assembly lines. 

This collaboration covers both the 799 cc and LC8c, KTM motorcycles uses in its Duke and adventure 790-class bikes, and the larger LC8-based powerplants that CFMoto installs in its 1250 series.

When KTM engines are built through the joint venture, KTM still calls the shots, it controls the design, the specs, and the quality checks; therefore, KTM-built engines used in CFMoto bikes carry KTM architecture and track record for reliability, which effectively elevates their build standard. But CFMoto also designs and builds its own engines too, for example, a few 650 cc twins and some single-cylinder motors, which are also planned, tested, and produced according to CFMoto's engine reliability standards and rules at its factories. 

For KTM buyers in America wondering about KTM's engines and its built quality, the key takeaway is this; if the model has a KTM-derived engine built at the JV, there are strict protocols to follow during KTM's design and testing; if it has a CFMoto engine, it follows CFMoto's specs and testing only. You can check the engine's origin on KTM's website to see if it came from Mattighofen, Bajaj, or the KTM–CFMoto JV factory, to know which standards it was built to.