Stefan Pierer Archives - Page 3 of 4

Racing

KTM Wants to Race in Moto2 & WSBK – No ROI in MotoGP

By Jensen Beeler 07/15/2013 19 Comments

Speaking during an interview with the company’s corporate blog, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer spoke his mind about the current state of international road racing, and KTM’s involvement with both the MotoGP and World Superbike Championships, and their support classes.

Stating that MotoGP lacked any return for the massive monetary investment it would require from the Austrian manufacturer, Pierer did go on to later to praise the Moto2 format as one that he would like to see KTM to compete in, with some changes of course.

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Bikes

2014 KTM RC390 Cup – A Glimpse of What’s to Come

By Jensen Beeler 07/14/2013 25 Comments

Helping cultivate road racing’s future talent, KTM has teamed up with ADAS to bring you the “ADAC Junior Cup powered by KTM” series. Along the same vein as the Red Bull Rookies Cup for MotoGP, and the European Junior Cup for World Superbike, the ADAC Junior Cup is a spec-bike series aimed at developing young riders — good stuff, but not exactly a new concept.

What is exciting though is the “powered by KTM” part because zie Austrians have basically just unwrapped their new small-displacment street bike that is based off the KTM 390 Duke, you know it as the KTM RC390, and for the ADAC series, we know it as the 2014 KTM RC390 Cup Racer. Missing only a headlight, signals, and a license plate, the cup race bike is essentially what KTM will debut at EICMA in a few months’ time. We like.

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News

Husqvarna & Husaberg Will “Reunite” After 25 Years Apart

By Jensen Beeler 05/16/2013 8 Comments

Ever since Pierer Industrie AG bought Husqvarna from the BMW Group, there has been a great deal of speculation as to how the Italian-based Swedish-born brand would fit within the KTM empire. With zie Austrians needing another dirt bike marque like a hole in the head, it was curious to see KTM add a third off-road brand name to its stable of two-wheeled machines.

Adding even more intrigue to the situation, Stefan Pierer announced that he would discontinue Husqvarna’s pursuit of on-road machines with his acquisition, starting with the Husqvarna Nuda 900, and that he would also be closing down the bulk of the brand’s very beleaguered Italian operations, much to the chagrin of local officials and worker unions.

Now, the next chapter of Husqvarna is set to unfold, with the announcement of a new company, Husqvarna Sportmotorcycle GmbH, which unsurprisingly will be based in Mattighofen, Austria and will build off the technology that Husaberg has developed, while using the more recognizable Husqvarna name.

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Opinion/Editorial

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

By Jensen Beeler 05/07/2013 18 Comments

Stefan Pierer’s acquisition of Husqvarna continues to baffle me. You will note I say Pierer, and not KTM, bought Husqvarna, since the Austrian CEO used Pierer Industrie AG in the transaction as a means to help side-step European antitrust issues. After all, we can’t have Europe’s largest dirt bike manufacturer, nay largest total motorcycle manufacturer, gobbling up even more brands in the two-wheeled world. But, I digress.

For as big of an issue as it might be that KTM, by proxy, has swallowed another dirt bike brand, I still do not understand the thinking behind this madness. Dropping to four-digit yearly sales, it wasn’t until BMW started taking the off-road brand into the on-road market did signs of growth appear again at Husky.

Developing three road bikes (Husqvarna Nuda 900, Husqvarna Strada 650, & Husqvarna Terra 650), with three more concepts waiting in the wings (Husqvarna Moab, Husqvarna Baja, & Husqvarna E-G0), it is with even more confusion that we learn that Pierer & Co. intend to kill the Husqvarna Nuda project and its other street siblings.

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News

KTM RC390 Confirmed for 2013 EICMA Debut

By Jensen Beeler 04/19/2013 5 Comments

News that KTM would be making a full-fairing version of its small-discplacement single-cylinder KTM 390 Duke street-naked is nothing new, and is something that we have reported ad nauseum. News that Stefan Pierer has confirmed that bike’s release isn’t new either, but for the first time the Austrian CEO has given us a concrete date on when we will see the now-called KTM RC390 in the flesh, and that date is the 2013 EICMA show in Milan, Italy.

Talking Sir Alan Cathcart with Cycle News, Pierer explains that three flavors of the full-fairing machine will come from Mattighofen, in the 125cc, 200cc, and 390cc varieties. As reported earlier, the new RC bikes will feature styling very similar to KTM’s Moto3 race bike, the KTM RC250GP, and will be manufactured in Bajaj’s Chakan factory in India.

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Bikes

KTM E-Speed – An Electric Scooter from Austria

By Jensen Beeler 03/31/2013 3 Comments

Not soon after KTM CEO Stefan Pierer dismissed the viability of electric motorcycles, and told Italian journalists that the Austrian company was scrapping its plans to build an electric dirt bike, the KTM Freeride E, KTM has announced the KTM E-Speed electric scooter study, with Pierer even making the bold statement that “we at KTM are completely convinced of electric mobility as a perfect complement to conventional powertrains.”

Debuting the machine at the Tokyo Motor Show, KTM has appropriately recycled the same battery and motor technologies from the Freeride E concept, and put them in the unimaginatively named E-Speed scooter. Using a liquid cooled 14.75 hp / 26.5 lbs•ft motor, KTM has opted for a larger 4.36 kWh battery pack for its metro-targeting scoot.

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News

KTM CEO Says It’s Too Soon for Electrics

By Jensen Beeler 03/06/2013 20 Comments

The first OEM to show a near-production electric motorcycle to consumers, KTM touted at the 2011 EICMA show that as an industry leader in the dirt bike sector, it could ill-afford to stand idly by while other companies explored the development of electric two-wheelers.

Then unveiling the KTM Freeride E concept, KTM said it would trial the machine with a select number of European consumers, before rolling out the electric dirt bike to the masses later in 2013.

With nary an update since then, it would seem that the Austrian company is rethinking its position on electric motorcycles. Talking to Italy’s Motorciclismo, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer spoke of the safety and cost concerns surrounding electrics, and concluded that the timing is still too soon for EV’s to replace petrol-powered machines in the two-wheeled sector.

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News

BMW Motorrad Sells Husqvarna to Pierer Industrie AG

By Jensen Beeler 01/31/2013 10 Comments

Calling it a “strategic realignment” for BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group has confirmed the rumors and sold Husqvarna Motorcycles to Pierer Industrie AG, the holding company of KTM CEO Stefan Pierer. Saying the parties would not disclose the terms or purchase price of the transaction, the press release from BMW Motorrad was surprisingly light on any actual information.

Touting BMW’s commitment to urban mobility and electric vehicles, the German company will now focus solely on the BMW Motorrad brand. With reports saying that BMW Motorrad will not venture back into the dirt bike market, the company will maintain its on-road focus for the foreseeable future.

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Rumors

Husqvarna Sold, But to Whom?

By Jensen Beeler 01/30/2013 12 Comments

The Brits over at MCN broke the news last night that Husqvarna was about to be acquired by KTM. Since M&A’s are a rarity in this industry, the news was certainly interesting, but given that the beleaguered Husqvarna brand has been such a pox on BMW Motorrad with its dwindling dirt bike sales, and that the German company has been embroiled in trying to transition the Italian-based Swedish brand into the on-road segment, now seems a peculiar time for the BMW Group to unload Husqvarna…or that anyone would even be interested in purchasing the company.

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News

KTM Reconfirms “Faired” and “Travel” Duke 390 Models

By Jensen Beeler 12/03/2012 24 Comments

For some time now, we have known that KTM intended to bring a 300cc-class version of its KTM 125 Duke motorcycle to market, thanks primarily to a leaked product road map that covered the Austrian company’s product line-up clear through the 2014 model year.

Slotted to bring the KTM 390 Duke to the US market this coming spring, the leaked road map has so far proven to be accurate, and has two interesting machines listed for 2014: the KTM Moto3 350 & KTM Enduro 350.

Now confirmed by KTM’s CEO Stefan Pierer, KTM will debut a “faired” model (the KTM Moto3 350) and a “travel” model (KTM Enduro 350), which are based off the KTM 390 Duke platform, and will share the bike’s 375cc single-cylinder engine.

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News

Bajaj Bumps Ownership of KTM to 47%

By Jensen Beeler 04/04/2012 No Comments

Slowly but surely, Bajaj Auto continues to gobble up pieces of KTM’s stock. Taking its investment position now to just over 47%, Bajaj has acquired another 6.3% of the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer, and is projected to continue acquiring stock in the company.

The second-largest motorcycle manufacturer in India, Bajaj is also the second-largest shareholder in KTM, with KTM’s largest controlling position belonging to Stefan Pierer (KTM CEO) and Rudolf Knuenz (KTM Chairman of the Board), whose combined holdings come to just more than 51% of the company.

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