The 1 May initiative...
The 1 May initiative is the brainchild of the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, which is responsible for the fixed and mobile road safety cameras in the area.
Car giant Volkswagen...
Car giant Volkswagen is getting on its bike to produce this: its first-ever motorcycle.
Itò€™s not only the bike market VW is looking to muscle in on: it sees potential in three wheels, too
The company is set to team up with Austrian motorbike manufacturer KTM to develop the two-wheeler. And our picture shows how the new machine is likely to look.
KTM’s first attempt at a road car, the track-biased X-Bow, was developed with help from VW’s engineers, and even makes use of the 2.0-litre turbo from the Audi TT. So tapping into KTM’s motorcycle know-how to build this bike is an ideal way to repay the favour!
The two-wheeler would pitch VW head-to-head with fellow German giant BMW, which is already established in the motorcycle industry.
But it’s not only the bike market that VW is looking to muscle in on: it sees potential in three wheels, too. Cast your mind back to the 2006 Los Angeles Motor Show, and you might recall the GX-3 concept. It now looks as though production of the firm’s wacky motorbike/car hybrid could be back on the agenda.
The vehicle stunned showgoers with a combination of space-age styling and top performance credentials, although bosses deemed the legal hurdles of selling the ‘trike’ as a motorcycle – and the damage that it could do to VW’s credibility as a car maker – too significant to give it the green light. However, they have now said that if the firm was to produce motorcycles as well as cars in the future, the GX-3 could justifiably make it to production.
And the three-wheeler could be just the vehicle driving enthusiasts of the future are looking for. As it has a lightweight chassis, a frugal 125bhp 1.6-litre engine would provide searing performance – and all this with the ground-hugging stance of a roadster and the manoeuvrability of a motorbike.