KTM PRESIDENT/CEO STEFAN PIERER: PART 1
P82
Feature
especially for beginners, it's not
that easy. But Husqvarna is more
accessible, a little bit softer, a
cool-riding brand—I know it sounds
crazy, but I think Husqvarna has
to go up against Honda, whereas
for KTM to me the real serious
competitor, who I like very much,
by the way, is Yamaha. So it's as
simple as that.
The way the public views the
new Husqvarna street bikes is
that they seem to either love
them or hate their styling. Do
you think you need something
with a broader appeal to a
wider spread of customers?
For sure, it's a learning curve,
because when we announced we'd
go on-road with KTM in the end
of the '90s, it took us 10 years to
get the right reputation, the right
product line and especially the
right distribution network for us to
be perceived as a serious on-road
brand. It won't take 10 years for
Husqvarna—but a couple more
years, for sure.
Is the fact that until recently,
Husqvarna dealers were heav-
ily off-road-focused an issue?
For sure, you have to attract
on-road dealers, and there are
a lot of them there, but you
must accept that they need a
certain product range that they
can earn money selling—not
just a 400cc bike in a couple
of different styles. I think it's
clear, they need bigger displace-
ment models like a twin-cylinder
Husqvarna range, and we're
going to give it to them. Even the
1300 V-twin could maybe have a
Husqvarna name on the side in the
future—it's not impossible.
So there could be a Super
Duke version of the Husqvarna?
A Husqvarna re-interpretation of
the KTM model, yes.
Ducati only made V-twins for
the street until last year, and
now after going racing with a
V4 in MotoGP, they have a V4
street bike range. KTM has a V4
MotoGP racer—will there ever
be a V4 KTM street bike?
No. Our V4 is focused entirely
on closed course high-end com-
petition, namely MotoGP.
But when you decided to go
into MotoGP the second time
around in 2016, you told me that
the ultimate aim of this program
was to develop a customer
track-day bike, because you
didn't believe that high-perfor-
"I THINK IT'S CLEAR,
THEY NEED BIGGER
DISPLACEMENT MODELS
LIKE A TWIN-CYLINDER
HUSQVARNA RANGE, AND
WE'RE GOING TO GIVE IT
TO THEM. EVEN THE 1300
V-TWIN COULD MAYBE
HAVE A HUSQVARNA
NAME ON THE SIDE IN
THE FUTURE."
KTM's engine factory in Munderfing, Austria.
