Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128233
KTM's Stefan Pierer B y A LA N C A T HCA RT PH OT OS BY P AUL B A RS HO N K TM is still on a roll, wit h no sign of any letu p in it s fl ou rishin g growth , eve n in its key m arket , th e USA. Th ere, the fall in value of Uncl e Sam 's gree nback aga ins t th e Euro dollar h as d efl at ed revenu es in sp it e of KTM' s sales still spu rt in g ahead , allowing th e Au strian fi rm to ove rtake BMW as the top-seiling Eu ropean m otor c y cl e bran d in the A merica n ma rket. After treadi ng the path fr om bankruptcy to boo m times over the past decade, fueled by a suc cess io n of Mo tocross and Enduro World ti tles , wi th succ ess in th e g rue li ng desert ralli es capped by d om i n an c e o f t he pres tigi ou s Par is- Daka r marathon , the Au stri an k ings of the off-roa d world have built a worldwide reputati on for the excellence of th eir custo me r produ ct s on th e back of succes s in rac ing - a sim ilar path to th at followed by th eir ro ad rac in g co unte rpa rts at Du cat i , who se d om i na nce of th e spo rti ng V- tw in fou r-stroke secto r KTM is now fi rmly ta rge ti ng , with the first of its 100 -p ercent t armac V-twins reachin g the m ark et next year. Behind th e wa lls of KTM 's modern new factory in the upper Au str ian town of Mattighofen , not far from Salzbu rg , lies on e of the m otorcy cle world's greatest m od ern -d ay success st or ies. Much of th e cre dit for orchestrating the remark ab le c o m me rc ial an d spo rting ex p l o it s o f KTM Sportm oto rc ycles be lo ngs t o th e m an who for th e pa st decad e h as been KTM' s m an aging dir ect or, 47 -year -old Stefan Pierer, th e fir m's p rincipa l in di vid ua l sha rehol der and th e guy wi th the vision to build the com pan y into its present domina nt posi tion in the world's off-road and dual -purpose mar- 22 S EPTEM BER 24, 2003ยท e ye I e kets . With the rece nt arrival in the m ark etplace of th e fir st of th e V-twin m od el ran ge, which KTM ha s been developing fo r th e past four yea rs, and the company 's entry into th e Grand Prix road racing class th is seaso n in assoc iat ion with tw o -stroke tu ni ng gu ru Haral d Ba rt ol , wh o ha s c reat ed the fi rm's 125c c reed -va lv e tarm ac too l, the ch an ce to qu iz th e arc hi tect of th e com pany 's success about its futu re plans by visit ing him i n KTM's b eautiful g lass -walled offices abo ve th e fac to ry floor was very timely . And all th e more so coming just six weeks aft er KTM had shock ed the Grand Prix road race paddock by re vea ling it was cancel in g p lans t o go MotoGP rac ing in 2005 wi th its o wn 990c c 75-degree V4 eng ine, now ta kin g shape in th e co m pany 's sparkling new R& D center. An explanat ion for the reas ons behin d thi s crucia l decision from the man wh o ma de it wa s to o good to miss. St efan , it 's been almost two years since we last sat around this tabl e an d talked about KTM's future , and you gave me a great scoop by revea ling to the world your plans t o go MotoGP racing with a KTM 990 V4 . But a lot has happened since then , including not only KTM actua lly entering Grand Prix road racing in the 125cc cl ass , but also your shock cancellation of the V4 MotoGP race project. Can you br ing us up to da te on what's been happening - for example , has KTM 's production kept on building? Yes, it has. We are curren tly ve ~ cl ose now to th e year's end, and wh ereas back when we last talk ed tw o years ag o, our vo lume of p roduc tio n was 4 5 ,50 0 un its annu ally and our tu rn o ver Euro 220 million ($246 mill ion) , th i s ye ar we will prod uce 71 ,000 m ot or c yc les with receipts of Eu ro 380 m illion ($4 24 .9 8 million ) - th ough this is not as high as it Q A neuvs co ul d be becau se of th e weakn ess of the U .S. dol lar. That's still an in creas e of aro und 20 percent in both turnov er and produ cti on co m p are d t o la st yea r, though , be cause t he average cost per unit ac tually went up , since it was the first year of pro duc t io n of KT M 's first -ever c us tomer V-twi n, the A dventure 950, whi ch obviously cos ts m ore tha n a sing le. Plus ou r parts and ac cessories tu rn over was up 35 percent, so that com pens at ed for the dollar problem . H OW many V -twins did y ou manufacture t his model year? We made 3500 examples of th e Adventure 950 in our 2003 model yea r endi ng August 31 and for next ye ar are planning 5500 more. T hen after tha t , beginning in Se ptember next year , w e w ill make a sm all series of abo ut 600 units of the Duk e 990 , which we' re la unchi ng at th e Milan Show so th at all ou r d eal er s aroun d t he world will have at least one exa mple of o u r fi rst - eve r 10 0 -p erc ent street V-twin , as a test bik e fo r customers. Th en in Feb ruary , 2005 , we beg in volume production of the Duke 990 , with about 5000 planned for th e first part of tha t year. Does KTM still have the sa m e ownership as two years ago? Nothing has changed. I and m y colleagues still have th e same m inority partner, which is an equity fu n d that has b een in KTM for five years now. T hey ' re obviously very happ y with our ongoing growt h and co mmercia l success . though m ay be too happy - they' ll be looking to sell out be fore to o long, since th at, after all . is the p urpose o f equity fun ds , t o in ves t in something then t ak e a profit when it do es well! But we will deal with that when it happens - and th ey are a m in or it y partner, anyway , Q A