KTM's wild, bare bones X-Bow will be available to American buyers next year, but the Austrian firm won't need to bother with installing license plate holders for the track-oriented cars.

Wards Auto reports that KTM will build about 15 American-specification X-Bows next year, none of which will be legal to drive on public streets or highways. Instead, the X-Bows will be marketed as track-only vehicles. The hurdles involved in federalizing such a basic vehicle to meet American fuel economy and safety standards were no doubt too high for KTM, which builds fewer than 100 X-Bows annually.

The American market X-Bow will be based on the X-Bow R built in Austria and sold in Europe. That model is powered by an Audi-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder rated at 300 horsepower. Weighing in at less than 1,750 pounds, the X-Bow R isn't the most extreme model on offer, but it still sprints to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. 

Perhaps what's most interesting is just who KTM expects will buy the first round of X-Bows: Racetrack operators interested in acquiring fleets of the vehicles for driver training and rental programs. Pricing has not been announced, but the cars should be around $100,000 each.

KTM told the trade journal that it will build a small dealer network in the U.S. and that it hopes to boost annual sales to 30 or 40 X-Bows over the next few years.