Who better to ask for a frank appraisal of the effects of the pandemic than the owner of Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer? KTM’s Stefan Pierer
The devastating effects of Covid-19 on the global economy are too great to quantify right now. But as things start to struggle towards a new normal, it’s evident that the worldwide motorcycle industry is facing a set of challenges which comprise both rehabilitation, and opportunity.
KTM finished last year on a continued high after yet another record year, which saw sales spiralling up to 280,099 motorcycles in 2019 – yet another all-time record for the company, up a further seven percent compared to the previous year, with 234,449 KTMs and 45,650 Husqvarnas finding homes. Its President/CEO Stefan Pierer thus consolidated his role as the most significant figure in the European motorcycle industry – a position underlined by the renaming last October of the overall holding company formerly called KTM Industries, henceforth to be known as Pierer Mobility AG.
Thanks to its continued focus on innovation, the Pierer Group may justifiably claim to be the European PTW/powered two-wheeled industry’s leader in technology, emphasised by the outright takeover last October of the German company Pexco, previously its strategic partner in manufacturing an expanding range of electric bicycles. Another strategic partnership, its long-established link with Bajaj Auto, India’ s second largest motorcycle manufacturer, which owns 47.99 percent of KTM AG equity, with the remaining 51.67 percent of the voting rights held by Pierer Mobility, continues to strengthen the Austrian company’s competitiveness in global markets.
Read our full interview in the current issue…
