To put it mildly, Austrian bikemaker KTM has had a tumultuous past couple of years. Despite being highly successful in motorsports like MotoGP and the Dakar rally, the maker of exotic bikes was recently on the brink of insolvency, falling into a $2.3-billion debt hole, partly due to 265,000 unsold KTM bikes just sitting around. Its Indian partner brand and shareholder, Bajaj Auto Limited, bailed it out and is now in the process of taking control of KTM.
KTM itself owns two other motorcycle brands, Husqvarna and GasGas. It also owns WP suspension, which is seen in all three brands' offerings. But before we get to these brands, let's quickly recap KTM's history and importance in the two-wheeled world.
KTM started in 1934 as a car and motorcycle repair shop in a small Austrian town called Mattighofen. Its founder, Johann Trunkenpolz, named it was named Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen (Kraftfahrzeug is a German word meaning "motor vehicle"). Trunkenpolz launched KTM's first motorcycle, the R100, in 1953, using cycle parts manufactured in-house and an engine sourced from Rotax. The following year, businessman Ernst Kronreif bought into the firm. His investment and involvement helped lead to KTM's success, and the "Kraftfahrzeug" in the KTM name was changed to "Kronreif": Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen.
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KTM's Rise And Fall, And Rise Again
Despite initially selling small-capacity motorcycles, KTM tasted success in off-road racing events, and later on, the iconic Paris Dakar rally (later known as the Dakar Rally), which it has won 20 times. KTM has also won five Moto3 World Championships. But KTM ran into financial trouble, and in 1991 it declared bankruptcy. The next year, Cross Holding (now Pierer Mobility AG) bought the company, and owner-CEO Stefan Pierer, transformed the struggling bikemaker into a respected name in the two-wheeled world.
Since then, KTM acquired — and gotten rid of — multiple brands. In 1995, it bought Husaberg, a Swedish bikemaker known for its two- and four-stroke enduro, motocross, and supermoto motorcycles. However, KTM discontinued the brand in 2014 after purchasing the Swedish motorcycle brand Husqvarna from BMW the previous year. After all, it made little sense to keep Husaberg around when Husqvarna had been around far longer. (A pair of former Husqvarna engineers had established Husaberg in 1988, after the Cagiva group took over Husqvarna. But the Husqvarna name dates to 1689 as a maker of guns, and it started making motorcycles in 1903.)
In 2019, KTM acquired Spanish motorcycle brand GasGas, a niche dirt-bike brand known for its off-road and trials motorcycles. (GasGas currently makes one of the fastest dirt bikes that are fully street legal.) In 2024, KTM's parent company, Pierer Mobility, also briefly held a controlling stake in Italian exotic bikemaker MV Agusta.
Strategic Planning Of The Highest Order
While KTM's decision to acquire other motorcycle brands that similarly focus on off-road sports — instead of diversifying into different branches of motorcycling — might seem misguided, it's meant as a strategic move. KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas motorcycles share a lot of parts. A good example is the KTM 450 SX-F, Husqvarna FC 450, and GasGas MC 450F, which share the same frame and power train. Platform sharing leads to huge cost savings in research and development, as well as manufacturing.
Another example of the bikemaker's strategic planning is KTM's acquisition of WP suspension in 2017. The premium suspension brand is offered in KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas motorcycles. And KTM's parent company, Pierer Mobility, owns half of Kiska, the design firm responsible for the distinctive design of all three brands' modern motorcycles.
The strategic partnership with Bajaj Auto that began in 2007 has immensely helped KTM produce small-capacity KTM and Husqvarna motorcycles. That has made the coolest beginner motorcycles cheaper for global markets and made KTM, in the words of Bajaj CEO Raviv Bajaj (via CNBC TV 18), "not just the largest motorcycle maker in Europe in the premium segment, but the number one premier motorcycle maker in the world."
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