Moving On Up
KTM’s CEO Stefan Pierer is an impressive man. He took KTM from being a low company that was not in not the greatest position to now selling more motorcycles globally than Harley-Davidson. Yep, KTM just passed up the American-based company in terms of overall sales of motorcycles globally.
This is exactly what Pierer has said he wanted. According to Bloomberg, Pierer wants to topple Kawasaki from its number three spot next. It’s now getting close. If Pierer has his way, he’d buy up Ducati and Triumph and build a single large European motorcycle company with many brands. That would likely secure him the third spot in the market he wants.
What’s interesting about this is that despite selling more motorcycles than Harley, KTM didn’t make the kind of revenue that Harley did. Bloomberg notes that Harley actually made triple what KTM did in revenue, largely due to the fact that its bikes are more expensive. Despite Harley’s current issues, of which there are many, the motorcycle company still rakes in a lot of cash.
It’ll be interesting to see how KTM develops from here. If Pierer can continue to grow the existing brands and add to them with other well-established brands, then I’m pretty sure KTM will become the third biggest motorcycle manufacturer by volume pretty soon.