Here's How I Would Fix KTM If I Were In Charge

Austrian motorcycle mega-brand KTM is in dire straits, but perhaps on the mend. The company was in a stratospheric growth mode following a huge boom in sales in the post-Covid 19 pandemic rush to get outdoors, but once demand waned the company didn't curtail production and was left with thousands of unsold motorcycles and innumerable irate unpaid suppliers, workers, and partners. After the local government allowed a restructuring of the company and absolved much (but not all) of its debt, Indian motorcycle manufacturer Bajaj swooped in to give the bright orange a shot in the arm it desperately needed. The deal is rumored to have cost Bajaj around $900 million. Obviously the way the company works right now is not going to be around in the future, as Bajaj will implement some changes and hopefully return KTM to solvency with a more conservative sales strategy.

For the time being we can only speculate at what changes Bajaj might implement, but I know for sure what I would do if I were given charge of the company for a few years. I've already given my thoughts on how to right the good ship Harley-Davidson, and hopefully the bar and shield's new dorky CEO will take my advice since I didn't get the job. Maybe Bajaj will see my great ideas and send me a job offer to come onboard as KTM's new CEO, or at least Vice President of Product. Let's dig into the details of what KTM is doing right and what it could be doing better.

For starters, and sorry if this was already brought up, but has KTM tried increasing revenue?

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Cut The Dead Weight

This is going to hurt the feelings of at least a few KTM riders, but their sport bike program has to die a violent and grisly death. No matter how good the Duke and RC lines are, sport bikes aren't what KTM is known for. Under my reign as head of the company, KTM would make dirt bikes, enduros, dual sports, adventure bikes, and supermotos only! If you want a European sport bike, go buy a BMW or a Ducati. If you want a track-only MotoGP race replica, call Honda or Aprilia. While we're at it, I'm killing the MotoGP team, too. The company's slogan is "Ready To Race" but it has won just five MotoGP events in nine seasons of participation, and none have come since Miguel Oliviera left the team at the close of the 2022 season. It's time to close it down and save the millions of Euros the brand must be dumping in this sport.

KTM needs to regain its focus on the off-road segment, where it is best known. KTM has success in off-road racing, and the market is scrambling to buy more off-road powersports vehicles than the global economy can produce. The industry predicts that the off-road motorcycle segment will double from about 10 billion dollars annually today to over 20 billion dollars by 2032, and KTM needs to be there to capitalize on the growth. People still want to go off-roading on two wheels, and if KTM focused itself on improving quality, customer service, and lengthening warranties, it could be der König of dirt once again.

Eighty-Six The X-Bow

The above photograph shows the 100th KTM X-Bow (I will always pronounce it ecks-bow, not cross-bow the way KTM wants me to) built, and it was released as part of a company statement touting its arrival on the 10th of July last year. The X-Bow was shown to the world at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2008, which means it took 196 months to sell 100 examples. In spite of the fact that KTM asks a pretty penny for these lightweight Audi-powered two-seaters, it can't have been a profitable endeavor for the company and it needs to knock that crap off immediately.

The X-Bow is a very cool little car, and I will be sad to see it go, but if KTM is to continue as a going concern it has to end the madness of building a limited-production sports car. For many other companies a car like this could theoretically be written off as a halo vehicle, but halo cars only really work if you actually build cars. Is anyone going to a KTM dealership to ogle an X-bow and then walk out with a $7,000 dirt bike? Sell the tooling off to a small boutique manufacturer like Lotus did with Caterham, and never look back. The best time for KTM to decide it shouldn't build cars was 2008, but the second best time for KTM to decide it shouldn't build cars is right now. This is an extremely tough business, and most motorcycle manufacturers just don't have what it takes to compete in the four-wheeled-toys-for-rich-guys-with-egos business.

Thankfully for the company's bottom line—but not for lightweight sports car enthusiasts—it looks like the X-Bow is on the chopping block, and probably won't make it another year.

Up In Smoke

As it stands KTM also owns Husqvarna, GasGas. The company is more or less selling the same dirt bikes in three different colors across three different brands and dealer networks. It should probably stop doing that. By splitting itself into three different companies, it has to have three separate marketing, distribution, and sales channels, leading to massive inefficiencies. These companies either need to be differentiated better, or killed off altogether. Most beancounters would probably advocate for GasGas to be smoked, but not me,  I have a better idea.

If I were KTM I would start my plan by selling off Husqvarna to get a huge injection of capital. You know, if I were in charge. What do I need that injection of capital for? To allow Spanish brand GasGas to purchase fellow Spanish brand Stark Future before it becomes a dominant force in the electric off-road world and too expensive for even Bajaj to afford. The Stark Varg is already such a good electric dirtbike that it was banned from X Games competition for being too damn good! That's the kind of brand KTM needs in its portfolio, not fighting against it from the outside. Electric is definitely the future of dirt bikes, and the irony of turning GasGas into an all-electric brand is just too juicy for me to pass up.

KTM did own a controlling stake of MV Agusta for a little while, but has already walked back that deal so there's not much to worry about on that front.

Adding a less expensive entry-level bike to its lineup would probably help KTM in the increasingly important developing markets of the global south. Working with Bajaj to adapt its 110cc engine, or even wholesale motorcycle models, into passably off-roadable small and lightweight KTMs would be a serious boon for the company. Maybe the Bajaj Freedom 124 or CT110X would make a decent KTM for the Central and South American market, the African market, or the Pacific Islands, where it desperately needs market share to grow.

Yeah, so that's how I would fix it. Sound good?

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