Words by Afzal Rawuther
The KTM Duke 390 won the 11th Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) Award in Delhi in the presence of experts and enthusiasts from the Indian automotive fraternity. The Duke 390 was presented the award by Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre Industries Limited and Mr. Aspi Bhathena, Chairman, IMOTY 2018.
Congratulating the winners, Dr. Singhania said, “The prestigious ICOTY and IMOTY awards have become synonymous with excellence in the Indian automobile industry, honouring cars and bikes for now for over a decade. Every year these coveted awards recognise the best in class efforts in engineering, design, cost-effectiveness, adaptability to local conditions and above all customer satisfaction. As the proud associate of these awards since their inception in 2005, JK Tyre has always endeavoured to take these awards beyond mere plaudits to a true recognition of merit.”
The KTM 390 Duke, winner of IMOTY’18 won among a list of contenders and stood out forits performance and styling. Accepting the award, Mr Amit Nandi, President, Bajaj Auto and Head for KTM Motorcycles in India, said, “We are honoured that our motorcycle KTM390 Duke has won the prestigious IMOTY 2018. Our R&D team has put in a lot of hard work in creating a motorcycle, which is not only performance-driven but also has the styling and practicality suitable for Indian riding conditions. Winning IMOTY’18 gives us all the motivation to put in more effort to bring more performance motorcycles in India.”
The automobile industry’s top officials, members of the media, eminent representatives of industrial bodies, and car and bike enthusiasts were part of the award function. ICOTY and IMOTY are the most prestigious awards in the Indian Automobile Industry.
Sixteen of India’s renowned auto journalists with years of experience and testing expertise came together to form this distinguished panel and to hand-pick the most deserving model. This year’s jury consisted of Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri from Bike India, Shubhabrata Marmar and Abhay Verma of Overdrive, Kartik Ware and Raunak Ajinkya of Motoring, Sirish Chandran and Aninda Sardar from evo India, Pablo Chaterji representing Man’s World India, Arup Das and Jared Solomon of AutoX, Rahul Ghosh and Abhik Das of Auto Today, Devesh Shobha and Debabrata Sarkar of Top Gear India, and Vikrant Singh from CarWale.