KTM PRESIDENT/CEO STEFAN PIERER: PART 1
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Feature
from now, for sure, and maybe sooner.
Husqvarna certainly has great potential,
especially in emerging markets, because
we're transferring the manufacture of the
small displacement Husqvarnas to India
from December onwards, so production
of complete bikes will take place in Pune for the first
time. So based on those lower production costs,
now is the first time that we can also attack emerg-
ing markets like India, the Asian markets and Latin
America with Husqvarna.
I remember you telling me that Rajiv Ba-
jaj originally didn't want to be involved with
Husqvarnas, because he didn't think he could
sell them in India.
I think there's a certain difference in culture
between India and Europe. Patience, I would say,
is the strength of India, and the opposite is the
strength of Europe! If you can combine the two, I
The chance to meet Stefan Pierer for
yet another one-to-one in-depth inter-
view in his office at KTM's Mattighofen
factory uncovered the background
behind this roll call of success, and his
plans to build on it for the future.
Stefan, KTM consolidated its position as
number one in Europe in 2018, when you sold
over 250,000 motorcycles for the first time in
a single year. Are you satisfied with the way the
company has continued to grow? And where
do you see future growth coming from?
Since we now have a second on-road brand
in Husqvarna, it's clear we can accelerate the
speed of our growth via them. So right now I'm
very satisfied, and even more so if I look at what's
coming up next. There are a lot of good things
coming to fruition, so in my opinion half a million
bikes a year is not so far away—within a decade
Cycle News European
Editor Alan Cathcart
interviews Pierer at
KTM's headquarters in
Mattighofen, Austria.
