KTM in trouble

rocketonarail

rocketonarail

Hero member
Location
Gloucestershire,England
Despite being part owned by third largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world ( Bajaj Auto ) , it seems KTM is experiencing a bit of a wobble at the moment , with worker layoffs ..... an upper three digit million debt ( currency unspecified .... dollars , sterling , Botswanian ju ju beads , who knows ) ...... and production ceasing Jan through Feb .......

Going into a 90 day period of self administration ( isn`t that what caused the problems in the first place ? ) to try and sort things out ........ but next years MotoGP programme will go ahead as normal ........ :unsure: ........

It seems if you`re aiming to have a profitable motorcycle manufacturing concern , whatever you do , don`t paint the bikes orange ...........
 
Steve G. said:
Bit more than a financial speed wobble IMO. Serious trouble!!
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Yes ...... As mentioned in Tippies article , it seems they upped production to cash in on the post Covid sales boom , not realising that boom would be short lived ......... result being 100,000 unsold bikes sitting in warehouses / dealerships .

Job losses apply to Austria ..... not sure if Bajaj will be cutting back KTM production at it`s Indian factories .

MV Agusta is 25% owned by KTM`s parent Austrian company ....... the other 75% of MV Agusta is Russian owned , so they should be relatively unaffected by all this , I guess .......

If KTM owes you money , you have till the end of January to put your claim in ........
 
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2.9 billion euros of debt, I think. It looks unlikely that they will be able to field a competitive MotoGP team next season, if they enter at all. Pedro Acosta has got to be looking for loopholes in his contract!
 
rocketonarail said:
Yes ...... As mentioned in Tippies article , it seems they upped production to cash in on the post Covid sales boom , not realising that boom would be short lived ......... result being 100,000 unsold bikes sitting in warehouses / dealerships .

Job losses apply to Austria ..... not sure if Bajaj will be cutting back KTM production at it`s Indian factories .

MV Agusta is 25% owned by KTM`s parent Austrian company ....... the other 75% of MV Agusta is Russian owned , so they should be relatively unaffected by all this , I guess .......

If KTM owes you money , you have till the end of January to put your claim in ........
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Reputation has also taken a kicking with motors eating camshafts and the late response from factory to sort the problems. Very sad to see a once great factory go this way. I used to race an air cooled twin shock 400, engine was a cracking design.
 
Makes you wonder if KTM will go the same way as Royal Enfield .................. The parent factory goes bust , but production carries on at the subsidiary factory in India .........

Wonder how much Bajaj would pay for outright ownership of the KTM name ?
 
rocketonarail said:
Yes ...... As mentioned in Tippies article , it seems they upped production to cash in on the post Covid sales boom , not realising that boom would be short lived ......... result being 100,000 unsold bikes sitting in warehouses / dealerships .

Job losses apply to Austria ..... not sure if Bajaj will be cutting back KTM production at it`s Indian factories .

MV Agusta is 25% owned by KTM`s parent Austrian company ....... the other 75% of MV Agusta is Russian owned , so they should be relatively unaffected by all this , I guess .......

If KTM owes you money , you have till the end of January to put your claim in ........
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Almost 20 yrs ago I was riding on a motorway in nearby Washington State in the USA with an old buddy on his shiny 990 KTM, me on my old GSBeemer. For no reason the engine decides to
Literally physically explode!!!
Investing in KTM,,,,,I wouldn’t even buy a t-shirt!! The bikes are weakly engineered.
 
andre g said:
I do not know anybody who ever bought a KTM and thats the problem, they do not sell.
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I do know a few, but none held on to them for long and all sold them off with very low mileages. Seems the marque is all hype but with very little substance.

I'm not shedding any tears...

piet
 
andre g said:
I do not know anybody who ever bought a KTM and thats the problem, they do not sell.
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Plus the non-ADV bikes are ugly as shite. Of course it’s a prerequisite for ADV bikes to built with function first, form second, so KTMs fit in visually.
An old buddy of mine used to be sales and service manager for the #1 Suzuki sales dealer in Canada. Political company Logistics and incompetence forced that shop closed, given to, ironically, the nearby KTM dealer , which closed down but a year later. He was offered a job at another KTM/Kawasaki dealer which he took, including an outrageous deal on a 1290 Super Adventure, including free servicing. Even with said free servicing as an employee, multiple breakdowns from clearly Underengineered components, and not even a gravel driveway u der it’s shiny orange/white paint, in disgust , he gave it back to the dealer.

MV Agusta 2024??? Seriously, don’t get me started!!
 
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They were a game changer for 4-stroke single off-road bikes, everyone was 2-stroke for serious off-roading before KTM released the 4-stroke range. They are so serious they didn't recommend doing any actual road ks on them as some still dont run coush drives, which could break gearboxes. When they are pretty close to the cutting edge of race performance things can break, what I don't appreciate as an owner is being a BETA tester for a factory. Seems to happen a lot these days. Before KTM went 4-stroke I knew people who were fitting Honda 4-stroke engines in 2-stroke Husky frames, there was a big demand for what KTM did and they sold thousands of those bikes in Oz.
 
I guess Miller has the last laugh after being flicked by KTM. Not that he did much riding them.
Be interesting what develops next year in MotoGP.
Just reading Suzuki is thinking about coming back in 2027. No more grid spots available so could take the KTM places as well as BMW who are also looking at joining MotoGP.
 
motoddrob said:
I guess Miller has the last laugh after being flicked by KTM. Not that he did much riding them.
Be interesting what develops next year in MotoGP.
Just reading Suzuki is thinking about coming back in 2027. No more grid spots available so could take the KTM places as well as BMW who are also looking at joining MotoGP.
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If BMW run MotoGP it will be with their #1 guy: Toprak. I’m quite looking forward to seeing how his braking style works on a MotoGP, he uses lots of front brake and often the rear wheel is off the ground. The MotoGP bikes rely much more on the rear for braking and to aid turning since the current rear tires are much grippier than ever before.
 
KTM definitely weren’t the only manufacturer that read the market incorrectly post covid. I was recently reading an article about Isla Bikes, the company that specialised in bicycles for women and kids. Almost identical story to KTM, the only difference being in the sums of money involved. However, Isla Bikes is still going but only providing a spares service for all the bikes that were sold prior to the implosion.
As for KTM, I respected their attempts at producing something different, but found some of the designs a bit challenging in the styling stakes. I would still like to have a ride on their RC8 to find out how it compares to the Aprilia RSVR.
And of course the use of an orange colour scheme did create some confusion as to whether Laverda was still in business. 🤣
 
I’ve owned 49 bikes so far in my life and the four KTM’s I’ve owned were fugging fantastic. Two 640 Adventures just ran and ran and were great fun. The 950 Adventure was perhaps the best bike I’ve ever owned. I spent a large amount on it making it a proper off road tool and there was a large following for it on AdvRider with people racing them in the Baja. I did a trip to Morocco and 1000miles in a day coming home. Wish I still had it.
Then I px’d it for an RC8R which was ballisticly quick, sorry but Jota’s are pedestrian in comparison. They are a genuine 182mph bike. Power wheelies, stoppies, track days in the fast group. I’d wanted to Road race as a teenager and joined a motorcycle magazine following that dream but a big accident on the road put an end to dreams of racing bikes. I then went on to race cars at an international level for 18 years but the RC8R convinced me that the bike racing dream could be still be alive. I sold it and built my Laverda 500 Barcelona and had my first bike race on my 53rd birthday. Won the clubs novice championship and the F3 BEARs title.
KTM’s will always have a place in my heart.IMG_1890.jpeg100_0667.jpeg2015 BHR B.E.A.R.S-124.jpeg
 
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