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2017 Husqvarna Vitpilen 401

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We have known for quite some time that the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 would debut at the 2016 EICMA show, with the Swedish brand teasing us with the pre-production model at last year’s gathering in Milan.

Since that time, we have seen numerous confirmations that the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 would debut as a production model in 2017, and today we can finally tick off the box on that launch.

Based on the KTM 390 Duke platform, the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 (Swedish for white arrow) takes a drastically different tack from its orange-clad sibling, as you can readily see.

It has been suspected for some time that the Husqvarna brand would build production versions of its Vitpilen & Svartpilen concepts. Now we have official word of that, as KTM has confirmed its intent to make the Vitpilen 401 & Svartpilen 401 concepts into production bikes, in its 2015 investor annual report.

KTM doesn’t outline a timeframe for both models, but it has confirmed that Husqvarna will debut two Vitpilen models for the 2017 model year – something that we already knew.

What is not clear however is whether Husqvarna counts the Vitpilen 125 & Vitpilen 401 models as two separate releases, or one bird of a feather. If it is the latter, then we can expect the Vitpilen 701 to arrive for next year. As Martha Stewart says, that’s a good thing.

We already knew that the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 had been green-lit by the Austrians, as a production model for the 2017 model year, but the Swedish brand has now confirmed that a 125cc version, a Vitpilen 125, of its stylish new street bikes will be made as well.

That news about a Vitpilen 125 isn’t perhaps too surprising, considering that the Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen is based off the KTM 390 Duke, which has 125cc and 200cc variations throughout its global market reach.