VOLUME 56 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 15, 2019 P79
When KTM
President/CEO
Stefan Pierer talks,
people listen.
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMANUEL TSCHANN
K
TM President/CEO Stefan
Pierer remains the most sig-
nificant person in European
motorcycling. With an 11.7% share of
the total European motorcycle mar-
ket, and booming sales in emerging
markets worldwide, the Austrian
company—in which Bajaj Auto, In-
dia's second-largest manufacturer,
holds a 48% slice of the equity—is
a global player in practically every
different model sector, both on and
off-road.
In 2018, the Austrian company
achieved record revenues of 1.56
billion euros, up 2% on 2017, by
selling 212,899 KTM motorcycles
and 48,555 Husqvarnas that calen-
dar year, an overall increase in sales
of 10% over the previous 12 months
as it outperformed the market in
both Europe and North America.
In Europe, the total market grew
by about 8% over 2017, but KTM
increased its registrations in the
same period by 21.5%, while in an
overall U.S. market decline in 2018
by 2.3%, the Austrian firm lifted
sales by 8.5%, boosting its market
share to 8.9% by the end of 2018.
These successes came thanks
to the launches of an entire new
KTM middleweight range with the
parallel-twin Duke 790, and the first
Husqvarna street motorcycles—the
401 Svartpilen/Vitpilen and 701 Vit-
pilen—to be built since the company
was acquired from BMW in 2012.
Stefan Pierer has now publically an-
nounced a sales target of 400,000
motorcycles by 2022.
KTM
new
for the
Europe's
this first
things,
brand,
