BIG news from KTM!
There’s a 500 on the way and they’re considering getting their hands on Ducati. Phew.
Let’s get the new-model-on-the-way part of the story out of the way first. KTM CEO Stefan Pierer has revealed what’s coming from the Austrians in the immediate future – and it’s largely focused on the smaller capacity machines. He said: “The middle class is becoming more important. In this segment we will come to other models, an SMT (which will be powered by the 790 motor) and so on.
“In the 500cc class, we will bring a two-cylinder machine, which is manufactured by our partner Bajaj in India and with which we compete against the Japanese.
“Growth is happening in the emerging markets today, and in these emerging markets ‘premium’ is the mid-range of 500 to 800cc.”
While the new bikes are on the immediate horizon for the Austrian firm, there’s much credence to industry rumours of a KTM takeover of Ducati.
There’s nothing official and, as MCM understands the current situation there’s no announcement of anything happening for a while yet, but in terms of what Pierer (and, therefore KTM) is thinking about the head of the company couldn’t be clearer.
He added: “I have an emotional relationship with Ducati. The only brand that suits us is Ducati, everything else you can forget.
“MV Agusta is too small. New homologation challenges are waiting for us… and there is demographic development in Europe as well – today you have to go to Asia with a motorcycle company, to India.”
There’s a precedent for Pierer dealing with larger companies too, with previous dealings between BMW and the KTM boss landing another marque that’s an improving part of the KTM group – Husqvarna. Pierer added: “When the Volkswagen Group with all its brands developed the platform strategy, I saw this as a role model. We bought Husqvarna in 2012 when our friends from BMW asked us for help. There were many critical voices back then. We have been told that we would only trouble ourselves with it. But we knew, thanks to VW, how it’s done.
“Audi (part of the VW group) may soon have other priorities than a motorcycle plant due to the diesel affair and e-mobility. Ducati is the Ferrari of the motorcycle industry. Of course, having such a brand in our group would be interesting.
“Ducati is not concerned with the purchase price, but with the question: ‘How can we become stronger together’? Time will tell…”
The comments are sure to make some waves for the Italian brand, especially as they come in the wake of recent thoughts from Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess. The VW company owns Ducati, and speculation about the company’s future has been rife for the past two years. Diess spoke about a merger with another brand as a real option for Ducati, saying: “I can imagine a merger or a collaboration with other brands. Ducati simply as a motorcycle icon within the VW company is not enough.”