Ayup everyone,
well to be honest I have been avoiding doing this video on the basis of “let sleeping dogs lie”, but it reached a point where I had to say something, because yet again what is being reported is often a very long way from the real truth.
Many of you will know I documented the whole KTM insolvency saga and have been covering the antics of the Pierer Mobility group from even before the MV Agusta take-over.
One of my first video’s was talking about the sad axing of the 490 twin project that comes up in this video. But this isn’t a video just about one new bike.
We all knew the reality was, that there was never going to be an easy path out of the mess at KTM, and as things move on, that mess just keeps coming back to bite them.
That may well at least in part down to the fact that the same people are still in charge, for now at least.
Ownership was complicated enough before the bail out by Bajaj, and now, in this year of flux, it is even more complex.
You see technically, Bajaj will not become majority shareholders until KTM default on the loan at the end of the loan agreement, which is almost certain to happen.
So at least for now, the Pierer Mobility Group via their subsidiary Pierer Bajaj, still have a controlling vote on any decisions. All the same leadership team are still at the top, and some of the decisions being made are questionable to say the least.
There is also a media whitewash going on with everyone still saying “great, fantastic, KTM are saved, Bajaj to the rescue, LOOK AT OUR AMAZING NEW BIKES, You can trust us, honestly”.
Well trust for me is quickly lost, but slowly gained, so I have been waiting, watching, and trying to understand what is really going on behind closed doors and you won’t believe some of the drama happening.
A New Twin?
Every man and his dog have been talking about the new 490 twin in development, but no one seems to have mentioned the fact that this design has been talked about for over 5 years now.
The original 490 twin project was rumoured in 2019, but by 2021 spy shots had been seen and in 2022 we got a full on prototype of the Duke 490 dragged around the shows.
This was a bike that was always planned to be built in its entirety at the Bajaj factory in Pune, and there was to be a Duke, Adventure, Supermoto and RC490 planned.
Then, the project was dropped, CF Moto bought the rights to finish it and build the small capacity twin, and in the SR450 and 450MT they have caused quite a stir.
In Asia the 450 sports bike grabbed a big chunk of the aspirational market. It was aimed at riders at the higher end of the market, and in Western markets they haven’t been able to build enough of the 450MT adventure bike. That is the 450 Ibex for my friends in the states.
There does look to be a few differences between the Ibex and the new KTM 490 twin, but beyond the WP suspension and KTM brakes, details are sparse so far. The only thing we can be completely sure about, is that it won’t be being built in Austria.
Bajaj are at present extending the factory in India to increase production by almost 50% and CF Moto are adding new production lines in China too. Which of the factories will build what bikes is still being kept very much under wraps, although there are some revelations that I will come to later.
Something I have to say at the beginning, is that I never trusted Stefan Pierer from the start, and I still don’t trust his influence. His sticky little fingers will still be poking their way into KTM’s business via the friends he gave control to, and he still retains a controlling share of the Pierer Mobility Group who are technically still the owners.
PMG, despite everything, have apparently still earned a massive 739 million euros in the first half of the year.
Add to that the fact that Stefan Pierer himself has overseen the sale of a 50.1% controlling share of the wiring loom company Leoni AG to the Chinese company Luxshare who are major Apple suppliers.
This is a company that employs around 85,000 people in 23 countries and generated consolidated sales of over five billion euros in 2024.
He will pocket a fortune from that sale, and that should give you an idea of how much this is all a scam in my opinion.
He has, and indeed did have, the money KTM needed all along. The problems could all have been avoided, but by doing what he did, he managed to squirm his way out of paying 66% of the debts, took money to pay staff from the Austrian tax payers instead of paying them himself, and could quite easily pay off the debts and retake control of the company tomorrow if he so chooses.
Bajaj would not have a leg to stand on as long as the loan is paid off.
Do I think that will happen? No probably not. But what we can all be sure of, is that the Austrian tax payers will never get any money back, or the many suppliers that lost 2 thirds of any money owed, will never see that either.
Official announcement from CEO Gottfried Neumeister
In July, We had an official announcement from CEO Gottfried Neumeister that was titled: “KTM AG RESUMES FULL PRODUCTION OPERATIONS”
In full it read;
“KTM is excited to announce the restart of its production operations in Mattighofen on July 28, returning to a full-time, five-day working week. This marks a significant milestone for the company and its global community of riders, dealers, and employees.”
“Production will kick off with the Off-road line-up, as announced last week, and will continue to roll out over the coming weeks.
“Alongside the Off-road segment, KTM will resume production of its LC4 platform models, including the KTM 690 ENDURO R and KTM 690 SMC R.“
He then expressed his gratitude to the entire KTM family, saying.
“A special thank you goes to our employees, who have made this restart possible through their tremendous dedication, flexibility, and team spirit over the past months. Their commitment during one of the most challenging phases has been – and continues to be – a key success factor for the company’s future development,”
“Restarting production gives us the stability we need to fully refocus on quality, customer proximity, and further development.”
“KTM also extends its sincere thanks to its dealers and partners worldwide for their patience and loyalty during this period.”
No mention of the fact they are now only running a single shift system, not the 2 shift production that it was not so long ago.
Yet Adventure rider said; “Production Is Now Fully Underway At KTM’s Austrian Factory“
Just weeks after announcing Bajaj’s takeover, KTM said its production lines in Mattighofen were running full-time.
They describe it all as a huge turnaround for KTM, and that the first big part of that rebuilding has been completed.
The Austrian factory is building bikes full-time, and currently, they are building dirt bikes and the 690-series dual-sports and super-motos
So everything is great, all back to normal, nothing to see here, No mention again of the cut from 2 shifts down to 1.
Then in August in an interview with 1000PS, we heard from Chris Schipper, Managing Director of KTM Austria and forgive me if this drags on a bit, it was torturous to translate and decipher.
Questions still remain and I have to ask, If you want honest answers, do you think that listening to the people who created the problem in the first place the right way to find them?
The interview was so bad it might as well have been a marketing exercise. The questions aren’t great, but more importantly, when there is no answer, which is often, there is no follow-up at all.
The same people who drove the brand into the ground are still in charge. Some of the people who benefitted from the insolvency even got promoted.
Now, they have decided that the answer is in the data. What data is yet to be seen.
The camshafts are mentioned, briefly, but the topic is basically ignored.
When asked, “what is the real situation now with availability, new models, and when is what coming?”
Schipper’s answers were interesting, especially when viewed alongside some of the other major announcements that have happened.
Chris Schipper speach
He said “We are right now in the period where we are finally delivering the new motorcycles in Europe, this new 390 platform, which includes Enduro, Supermoto, and Adventure models, are the core sectors for KTM”
“We’ve been working on this new 390 platform with Bajaj since 2011 and we can finally serve our core segments with really great products” but we will come to that later.
He continued, “I had the chance to break them in myself. I broke them in on the press ride. So, it’s guaranteed to work, and it convinced me personally. It was a lot of fun, and at a great price point. So, we really want to open up the market now, think ahead, we are so happy to finally bring new products to our dealers. It’s truly an emotional time right now.”
You see, one good press ride is all it takes to prove any new KTM product.
He continued, “ The logistics process, as we speak, has just been started, and thank goodness all four models are coming and will be delivered to dealers from the end of July to the beginning of October” Now remember that because you will hear a clip relating to this from Nathan the postman.
After that we got more rubbish, “We fought hard to get them here this year in what I would call an initial launch quantity. And I think the customer has been looking forward to these bikes for a very long time. They are impatient, we notice that ourselves on the ground. And that impatience motivated us to really make it happen, and now the time has come.”
So, if you think a 2025 bike should be available when the company says it will, you are impatient, remember that.
It goes on, “Basically, everything we presented last November in Milan at EICMA still applies. It’s coming and will be produced this year. Production in Mattighofen restarted on July 28th. The first model year ’26 off-road bikes will be produced, but also the new generation of the LC4 Super-motos and Enduros for KTM and Husqvarna. And then, from October, the 990 Duke R and the RC990 will be built. Then in November, we will be building the 1390 Super Adventure range”
“Production on these will start this year, so that we can really have a normal motorcycle line-up for next season, with availability right from the spring. So, basically everything we presented in Milan last year will find its way to the market”.
When asked to address the people who have bought a KTM in recent years regarding the absurd cut price offers out there with the Euro 5 transition and, also how the situation looks regarding service, the possibility of service, and spare parts supply he answered.
“Yes, that’s an enormously important point where we have certainly lost ground over the last eight months, due to the circumstances, we’ve had what I’d call a very creative pricing policy over the last few years. A lot of discounts were due to over-production. And now, because of the Euro 5 to Euro 5+ switch, these bikes had to be pre registered, and we had to bring these volumes to the market with discounts and promotions.”
“That actually worked completely according to plan. Now the motorcycles are not just at the dealership, but they’ve been sold. We sold 100,000 vehicles to end customers. They are being ridden, and now, of course, they need to be serviced. And if a crash happens, you need crash parts. So, in normal times, our spare parts warehouse, which is in Mattighofen, has 95% availability across all parts for all models”
“Now, in the period from the start of the insolvency until, one must say, May 23rd, when the insolvency payment was made, that dropped to 75% availability. That’s a huge drop, and it might still sound like a lot. However, for the individual case of a customer who might need a specific control unit, it’s a catastrophe if the vehicle can’t be ridden, and such cases have occurred. And we couldn’t do anything about it until May 23rd because, of course, our liquid funds didn’t allow us to order parts in large quantities from suppliers to restock.”
So, to people who paid pre discount prices, not a mention, for people who need parts, no reassurance that specific parts will be available. We know there are still unfilled back orders on cams, followers and complete heads for the 790 and 890, and note there is no mention of anything about the whole 790 and 890 failures, whether that’s the cams, the air-boxes, the coolant leaks or anything else. Because let us be real, regardless of how good the 790 and 890 Adventure are when they are working, there has been a whole catalogue full of problems that have plagued many owners.
But back to the speech, “on May 23rd, the insolvency payment was made. We had the financial resources from Bajaj to order from suppliers again, and that happened on May 23rd”.
But then, he continued “We assume that by mid-September, we will be back towards 85% to 90% parts availability. This means that right now, you can feel that there are availability problems. I can’t deny it. That’s how it is, and unfortunately, none of us can speed it up now. But from September, we can get the parts we’ve been waiting for. And for the next season anyway, we will be back to normal operations, so you won’t feel anxious any more”.
He was asked “Do you know how many of your suppliers really had to close down, or perhaps even went into insolvency themselves, or got into financial difficulties because of KTM’s insolvency deal? And if so, how did you find replacement suppliers on short notice?”
His response, “Hmm. So, I can’t tell you or confirm if many companies went into insolvency because of this, but some companies were closed. But I can say that we have over 500 suppliers for our entire model range. There are about 30 where the collaboration is critical and where we really need to reconnect and find common ground again, but there has been no “we’re not doing business with you any more.”
So the senior management don’t know or care how many companies went under or how many workers lost their jobs to pay for the mistakes of Pierer and co?
“Initially, after May 23rd, all suppliers said, “Hey, we’re happy to supply you again, but with prepayment now. We expected that, we were prepared for that with our funds. And now, not even two months later, I believe about a third of these suppliers are giving us payment terms again. So, as I said, we have to use this year to get back to normality, to show and confirm our reliability to our suppliers.”
Note he says to SUPPLIERS, NOT customers.
That just shows where their priorities really are, and that isn’t helping rebuild trust with customers.
I mentioned Nathan the Postman earlier and in a recent video he made the comment.
“Today I was supposed to pick up the new KTM 390 Enduro which I was very excited about but I’ve just had a call from the dealer saying we can’t pick it up because there’s an issue.”
So that doesn’t really match the comment earlier from KTM about the 390. What was it he said?
“We’ve been working on this new 390 platform with Bajaj since 2011 and we can finally serve our core segments with really great products that are guaranteed to work”.
Nathan buys a lot of small capacity bikes and his business depends on them, so it wasn’t a call he wanted to get.
Apparently there has been a stop put on the sale of the 390 by KTM, in the UK at least, with certain chassis numbers recalled which shows something is wrong, but they have been tight lipped so far, with no details released.
There have also been issues with the wheel and spacer on the front, and that is added to a list of other recalls and quality issues plastered across the owners forum in different countries that suggest that that KTM 390 adventure and enduro are certainly not the best built bikes, and there are going to be some early problems to iron out at very least.
On the topic of trust, there are two main groups where that trust has gone in my opinion. One is the customers, obviously. But there is also the dealers.
KTM’s policy in recent years has been, “You’ll get this from us, and please take it, because otherwise you might not get the new high ticket models you really want. That is a big burden that was passed on to the dealers and one of the causes of the mountain of unsold bikes. And Schipper was asked, “How do you win back the trust of the dealers?”
His response?
“Admittedly, our production and sales policy has escalated over the last three or four years to the point where, as you rightly say, we politely requested dealers to take the extra volume. Every dealer could still make their own decision whether to participate in the system or not. But they showed us the yellow card very early on, and rightly so. They said, “Hey, we don’t stand behind this sales, production, and volume policy.”
That policy lead to massive price wars and basically saw the brand labelled as a discounter, which is not in KTM’s interest, not in the dealer’s interest, and a catastrophe for customers who saw resale values of second hand bikes drop through the floor.
His response was:
“So, everything moved in the wrong direction, which was due to the fact that we were on a maximum expansion strategy. Yes, that was our business model. It worked for a very long time, but from about mid-2022, it really didn’t work any more”.
So that is an admittance of fault, but no apology.
He was then asked, “When you say you started to correct this, how much lead time did you need to ramp down production in line with the market?”
His response
“Basically, you can say, that for an off-road motorcycle it’s almost 6 months of lead time where you can’t change anything any more. For a street motorcycle, it’s almost 9 months of lead time. So, in autumn ’23, it was pretty clear that the U-turn had to be initiated. That did happen, but you can only notice it with off-road bikes in spring ’24 and with street bikes in mid-’24. Before that, you basically had no influence on what you were already building. Because, of course, you can’t just pull the plug on suppliers, and you don’t just put 30,000 pistons in storage as wear parts, or forks, or handlebars, or tanks. Instead, you hope that they will still find a buyer, so you at least secure liquidity and keep the inventory moving. And that was the hope we lived with. That hope just didn’t materialize in terms of market acceptance. This led to excess stock at our end, excess stock at the dealers’ end, and when something is available in excess, the profits you make from it are not great, neither for us nor for the dealer.
So, if a dealer can no longer make a living from our brand, he will reconsider how he collaborates with us. If we lose the dealer as a trusted partner, our system doesn’t work. So it collapsed like a house of cards. And the fundamental change now is basically data-driven decisions. Which models do we launch, in what quantity, at what price point can profits still be made, or not? Because if, for example, we recognize that a model only sells at a certain price point in a certain quantity and the profit would be too low, then we naturally have to reconsider whether we build something else instead.”
When asked what other steps they were taking to win back the trust of dealers, they said:
“During the entire insolvency period, I held video calls with the dealers every two weeks, to keep them completely up to date on the insolvency proceedings and the impact it had on daily business.”
So again they say they did everything they could, nothing to see here.
They continued with “The dealer has to believe us on this for now. We hope to convey that credibly in October. And then it’s the dealer’s job for the 2026 year to tell the end customer: “Hey, I’m getting these models from KTM at this time, they will have these prices. You’re welcome to inform yourself over the winter, you can go to the trade show, you can come to me again, you can browse the internet, you can read reports. But I have the bikes in this quantity, and there won’t be more.”
When asked again about discounting issues he said “I’ve followed the price development of our off-road models over the last 10 years, and for the first time, we will now lower the list price by about €300 to €600 per model compared to model year ’25, simply to bring ourselves closer to the market into a realistic price structure. And we will do the same with the street models for model year ’26.”
“The prices are all being looked at in our sales department who are planning for the first time again. We were completely off track, and what we wanted at the beginning of the season never happened, and actually led to a price collapse. Every customer who bought a bike more expensively at the beginning of the season felt a bit screwed.”
“We have to correct that now, in terms of production volume and price points. A huge advantage will be that we will now only produce in one shift in Mattighofen, Because when we produced in two shifts and set up for a certain model for 2-3 weeks, the entire dealership network received a large quantity of one model that they planned to sell over 6 months or 3 months. Then the bikes sit at the dealer’s and the end customer thinks, “What’s going on at the dealer’s? The same models are lined up one after another, something can’t be right here.”
Aaah, I see, the reason KTM failed was because customers saw too many bikes in the showroom. Nothing to do with poor planning, bad debts, failing products and questionable actions around warranty cover and design flaws. I get it now.
After this I started to glaze over with every sentence being punctuated by the term “Data driven decisions”. I began to think KTM had somehow invested into Open AI, but I will try and condense it all into short questions and answers.
The Short Answers
1) Has KTM recognized that it needs to improve product quality issues to justify its premium pricing? particularly with the LC8C 790 and 890 models?
The closest we got was – Yes, absolutely. The company recognized this in late 2023. We admit we were insensitive to issues like minor electronic faults and oil leaks, partly due they say to an “off-road mindset.” We are now handling goodwill and warranty claims more generously, even retroactively.
Well I know a fair few people on many forums that would argue that one, and notice, there is no mention of the cams, heads, oil feeds coolant leaks or air box seal on the LC8C engines.
2) Does the “Ready to Race” slogan contradict the need for reliability and durability on street motorcycles?
No, it is not a contradiction. “Ready to Race” requires finishing first, which demands reliability. To prove their commitment, they have extended the warranty to four years for most 2024 street models.
3) Will KTM’s very broad range of models be thinned out in the near future?
No final decision has been made. The new CEO will use a data-driven approach; if a model cannot be sold profitably in sufficient numbers, it may be discontinued.
4) Is extending the life of motorcycle models, instead of releasing new ones so frequently, a path being considered?
Yes, this will happen. We admit we “lost focus” by releasing too many models too quickly. We will move to longer product cycles with periodic updates and facelifts, similar to other successful brands.
5) What is the future of the joint venture with CF MOTO?
The production joint venture remains in place and is not affected by the loss of the deal to distribute CF Moto bikes. Models for 2025 and 2026 will be produced there, though nothing is fixed “for eternity.”
6) What is the plan for GasGas and Husqvarna, particularly regarding the practice of selling the same bike with different colours and branding?
Selling the same bike in three different colours was a “perfect example of where we lost focus.” We are abandoning the idea of being the Volkswagen Group of the motorcycle world. Future decisions will be data-driven, focusing on making each brand authentic and credible in the segments where it belongs.
There is that term again.
Lastly, Will the current financial difficulties lead to cuts in Research & Development, potentially causing KTM to lose its innovative edge?
No, R&D will not suffer. The company and its new owner believe that investing fully in R&D to create excellent products is the only way to save the business. They will accept lower profits for the next two years to fund this investment.
Its like they still want customers to feel sorry for them. Why should customers be sorry that the investors dont make quite so much money? Many of those customers have lost money, and thats not mentioning the dealers and debtors who lost out.
They still seem to take no responsibility underneath the empty words they spout.
When talking about the warrantee claims and the “good-will program” Schipper said:
From late ’23 onwards, we internally committed to making a complete U-turn and seeing things differently. The end customer then noticed this during ’24 with different goodwill handling, for example, with the camshaft issue, where something that was out of warranty after two years and not declared as a goodwill case, is now handled as goodwill. We even took over goodwill claims retroactively for customers who were out of warranty and had a claim rejected. But that was still just a drop in the ocean.
By that comment it must mean that everyone who had a cam issue was recompensed and there have been no more warranty or goodwill gestures turned down since then, and we know that simply isn’t true.
We know there have been and still are regular arguments regarding the so called goodwill scheme. Thankfully the problems do seem to be happening less, but it doesn’t alter the fact that the LC8C engines still have a tendency to behave like a hand grenade. No its not every one, but there are too many, and while they still hide the details of the court case I can’t print anything about, where they were found to have knowingly begun selling a design that they knew was flawed, I see no reason why they wouldn’t do exactly the same again.
KTM said “One area where we need to be more sensitive in our judgment, for example, is whether a fault is acceptable or not, like electronic errors on the display. That’s something that, in most cases, is not dangerous and doesn’t change the characteristics of the motorcycle, but it massively annoys a customer when it suddenly says “Quick-shifter defect,” “Immobilizer defect,” or something appears on the display that massively unsettles the customer. And that happened more often with our motorcycles. We were too insensitive when looking at that issue. But it’s not just with electronics. There were, of course, also always minor mechanical issues that caused a loss of trust—if something isn’t sealed sufficiently, like a gearbox output shaft, or a valve cover gasket. So, maybe certain points were not judged sensitively enough.”
This was followed by another statement that kept coming up. “Since we all at KTM come from the off-road world, we never really developed that sensitivity for street motorcycles, that some things simply cannot happen because it erodes the customer’s trust.”
OK, so let me get this right, its OK for dirt bikes to break down, have ineffective air box seals, explode, fall to pieces and leak fluids everywhere? Is that right? Does customer trust not get eroded in the world of dirt bikes?
And let us be real, Neither Neumeister, Schipper or any other of the Pierer cronies come from the world of dirt bikes, they are corporate whores and lawyers who I doubt will have ever ridden a dirt bike outside of very controlled marketing environments, and they certainly wouldn’t know one end of a spanner from the other.
He continued, “We once saw ourselves as a premium manufacturer, we chewed up that image ourselves, and now we have to get that image back. But we have to prove it first, and that’s a lengthy process.”
“We will stick to 15,000 km service intervals for most models, especially the twins. But we really have to pay attention to which wear-and-tear parts must definitely be dealt with by a dealer during a service to keep the warranty valid for the future. And we are looking at all of this in detail. What are wear parts for us and when should the recommendations to replace something happen?
“This means the customer is actually safe with us. Even if they have a small problem, we will solve it. The only thing holding us back a bit right now is the aforementioned spare parts availability issue.”
When asked about jobs, Schipper said, “We cut almost 1,800 jobs in 12 months and now there are absolutely no further lay-off plans. The plan is stable for the medium term. The people are safe. There was a possibility of another round of cuts, but we were able to counteract that with an internal short-time work model.”
Wait, I thought he said they were running full single shift production, but here he seems to be saying that the Mattighofen staff are on short time work, for how long? Indefinitely?
The comment about no more lay-off’s I want you to remember, because that doesn’t look like it is the way Rajiv Bajaj sees it as you will hear later.
The New Small Capacity Twin
The next thing we heard was the announcement of the ALL BRAND NEW 490 twin spy shots. Well, let us be clear as I said earlier, It is NOT new. This is a design that was shut down by Stefan Pierer back in 2022. I did a full video about it back in February of 2023 and I will link it in the description. It was first talked about in 2019 if I remember right.
After the project was killed off, miraculously, CF Moto began leaking the idea and then the spy shots of their new MT 450 Ibex.
Same bike? I will leave you to decide that.
The rumour is that they’re about to reposition their small to mid capacity line-up.
One of the bikes seen is an adventure bike with a 21-in spoked front wheel, While it has the look of their larger capacity adventure bikes, when you look closely, it looks like a new engine, and although it has two exhaust headers , it does look smaller.
It could be a single with twin headers, but with the 390 only just getting to market, I think that is unlikely, a resurrection of the 490 twin project would seem much more likely, but if you look there are differences in the engine of the 490 as it was, and on the new bike.
Will this be a twin cylinder replacement for the 390 Adventure? A bike that is only just hitting the market?
Or are they falling into the same trap they themselves talk about in the interview of having too many similar models in the same sector?
I think that is the most likely scenario. A lower priced 390 single alongside a more premium priced twin made in the Bajaj factory in Pune.
But will it be a 490?
Could it be that a 590 would sit better in the range?
Now if it was light, that could be a great bike.
There were rumours of an independently produced Bajaj twin engine around the 700cc mark earlier in the year too, so this could also be derived from that.
Regardless of what it is, it would mean a sector already crowded with orange machines gets even more crowded.
Likelihood is, it will be a longer stroke version of the CFMOTO 450 engine, but limited to 47 horsepower, with a bit more bottom end torque than the CF Moto 450.
It will also likely weigh 175kgs to conform to A2 regulations.
What it should and could be, is around 60 horsepower with a wet weight around 150kg like the old CCM GPX450 was. Anything else would be a backwards step in my opinion.
The Competition
With more and more twins arriving on the mid-capacity sector like the CF Moto 450 MT, BMW’s upcoming F450GS, and the Norton that will probably follow, which if you ask enough in the comments I will do a video on, is that sector getting saturated?
There is also Aprilia’s Tuareg 457, and Kawasaki’s twin cylinder KLE500 on the horizon, although that horizon seems to get further away each year.
Then there is the Bajaj built Triumph 400X and Royal Enfield 450 Himalayan and KTM’s own 390 Adventure.
The rest of the KTM looks much as you would expect with the suspension from their own brand WP, a single disc up front with a KTM branded four-pot radial caliper. It has their standard TFT dash, which I assume means the same tech packs as the 390. The fuel tank is high though, not side slung There’s also one picture of a naked bike, but it would make sense that they build the usual trio of street, adventure and super-moto bikes but with the addition of an RC sports bike.
People seem to assume that this one is a 490, and it may well be, but the engine does look different from the older project bike, so it is either a new 490 engine, or something else.
I think a 590 would fit in their range much better personally. A lightweight 600cc twin could be really exciting if they could bring it in significantly lighter than the Tuareg, which they could, and we know the Tuareg has stolen sales from the 790 platform.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Anyway, any thoughts of not cannibalising their own market with too many similar models, but having a 390, 490, 690, 790 890 and 990, start to make any comment made by the management look very questionable.
They are continuing single shift production in Austria, but only for dirt bikes at the moment, and they are still filling dealers across the world with promises, as well as new bikes.
Where are all the other bikes coming from you may ask, if as management say the backlog of stock clogging up dealers has now all been cleared?
Everyone seems to just take the word of the KTM management. A management that have lied so often they’ve forgotten how to be honest, but it idoesn’t take a genius to see between the lines.
Where will all those bikes be made? Some in India by Bajaj and some in China by CF Moto.
There is no plan to move production of bikes back to Austria, indeed Rajiv Bajaj said in a recent interview that ALL manufacturing in Europe is dead. Not just KTM’s, but everyone inside and outside the motorcycle industry.
You can see in the headlines from Die Presse and Nasrichten that there is a lot of contradictions when this interview is looked at alongside the managing directors comments I talked about.
I will break it down point by point.
A Breakdown Of The Situation
Chris Schipper, Managing Director of KTM Austria says: “Production in Austria is secure.”
Reality: Rajiv Bajaj says production in Europe is dead. The Bajaj plant at Pune is being massively expanded and their production systems modernised.
KTM Manager Schipper says: “We build motocross and high-end bikes in Austria.”
Reality: Motocross, Enduro, and even the 1390 series are rolling off the CF Moto production lines already. Austria is only working on a single shift system, and CF Moto can according to rumours, ramp up production by up to 50% very quickly if needed.
Schipper says: Spare parts supply is back to 95% availability.
Reality: it is easier to source 790 and 890 camshafts, through middlemen, straight from China than it is to get them from your local KTM dealer via Austria.
Bajaj video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g368dhXkBHg&t=1097s
Rajiv Bajaj Perspective
I mentioned an interview with Rajiv Bajaj on CNBC, and here we see a different story emerging. You can watch the full interview and I will link it below, but in short, his vision, looks very different to the image being painted by the present KTM management.
The key points here, are that he says production in Europe is dead. Manufacturing in Austria is being cut back to an absolute minimum. KTM as a brand turned into a discounter and will need to be rebuilt from scratch. Rajiv Bajaj is the man pulling the strings already, and a change to KTM’s pricing structure is coming soon.
If he applies his philosophy to KTM, it will mean a serious cut in staff at Mattighofen in Austria.
Bajaj will almost certainly realign the KTM pricing structure in the same way they have with Triumph in India.
Remember, Bajaj makes a 50% margin on KTM bikes built in India and most of the new bikes KTM has recently introduced are made by Bajaj. That has to tell you something.
The future of KTM in Austria is far from the done deal it is painted as. Maybe Bajaj will restructure to form a smaller research and development set up in Austria, but then that would make no sense when it is the R&D department in India that won the contract to build the triumph.
They have proven they can take a design from drawing board to production much faster and cheaper in India than they can in Europe. Anywhere in Europe.
And yes, Bajaj confirm that they will be building a new mid-capacity two cylinder bike for KTM in India, and a 160cc KTM Duke is being built specifically for the Asian market.
I get the feeling we are going to see some very creative and ridiculously intense marketing campaigns going on once Bajaj are able to take over completely, and that may happen before the loan expires.
Next, we had the reaction to the interview with Rajiv Bajaj as you can see in the slide.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1499093983993632/?multi_permalinks=1891338058102554&ref=share
The Austrian media went into Panic mode.
Because although what Bajaj says on Indian TV is aimed at Indian investors, the story went worldwide.
Remember, India is where the money is, but the present management structure continue with the illusion of an Austrian power base.
We are going to hear all sorts of stories from KTM over the next 6 months, but the term “smoke and mirrors” springs to mind.
In basic terms, what we have is a clueless management structure in Austria clinging onto what little power and kudos they have left, and a calm, patient and collected new owner who has very different ideas for the future of the company.
On September the 3rd in Der Standard, we got the headline, “European production is dead”: Bajaj boss announcement causes unrest at KTM.
Trend said “New question marks at KTM”.
Today said “We have to cut costs, Europe is dead, KTM owner shock announcement and that was mirrored in both OE24 and Nasrichten, with Nasrichten going on to talk about concentrating on the 3 core sectors.
So despite KTM CEO Gottfried Neumeister saying there are no plans to relocate production from Mattighofen in Austria, de facto owner Rajiv Bajaj said on Indian TV that European production was dead.
According to KTM they have survived bankruptcy, the restart is satisfactory. The company was saved thanks to an 800 million euros cash injection by co-owner Bajaj, and Bajaj wants more influence.
The Indian family’s empire wants to take over the Pierer Bajaj company completely. This was a joint venture between Stefan Pierer and the Bajaj group, who currently hold around 75% of the shares of KTM’s parent company.
This would give Bajaj a significantly bigger influence in the Group.
In the TV interview, Rajiv Bajaj said “We need to restore the brand and reduce the cost of the bikes”. If we can do this effectively, KTM has a “radiant future”.
What will have caused unrest in the Innviertel is his comment about Triumph.
He said “The British motorcycle manufacturer Triumph has moved the entire production to Thailand and is now also producing motorcycles in India. If Triumph could do this 15 years ago, why not KTM now”
Stefan Pierer is now left to concentrate on his remaining companies. Pierer industries, Pierer Digital Holdings and others, while still retaining a seat on the board of Pierer Bajaj.
How can this be allowed?
Why could the law not force him to sell his other companies to pay off the debts instead of just taking another loan out?
He could pay the Austrian taxpayers who he held to ransom at the same time too.
The shift towards India began long ago, and moving everything is looking more and more likely.
What do you think of all this?
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