KTM/Husqvarna... now how will this play out?

[shilo020]

I just hope to be able to get parts for my "legacy" Itailian 2010 TE310. 4000 miles. I ride it and brake it. Gonna need major rebuild soon. Always need little specialty stuff too. Just put on new bracket for the instrument panal. Without parts and support my pretty bike becomes junk.

 

[Norman Foley]

I just hope to be able to get parts for my "legacy" Itailian 2010 TE310. 4000 miles. I ride it and brake it. Gonna need major rebuild soon. Always need little specialty stuff too. Just put on new bracket for the instrument panal. Without parts and support my pretty bike becomes junk.

In the US a company is legally obligated to supply parts and support for 10 years.

 

[Blazes]

Back here in South Africa we have a different scenario -- CMH Holdings was appointed the importer for Husqvarna SA -- They pulled out ALL the stops i even had a few private chats with the CEO and as a racer he was all stoked as we had not had a new Husqvarna model in SA for 2 years ?? the te449 or te511 we never saw one -- the last bikes new we say were the 630te and i dont think the old importer brought in more than 6 of them sm and te included-
Money is being pumped into racing --top riders are on the pay roll and the first race of the year some good results were shown.
Husqvarna agents are now country wide and a lot of money has been invested as one can see a lot of new models on the floor --in the past we were told --put your money down ad we will order it for you--I am just hoping that ALL this hard work does not go down the drain as in SA we have some people after the news saying they will not touch the Terra --Strada --and Nuda R and std one that are on the floors as they are not sure what will happen --

Heres hoping and holding thumbs that all will go well for Husqvarna here in SA -- Its Long overdue --

Wishing Mr SP all the best in the future with his new purchase and may Husqvarna raise from the ashes here --- from a Husqvarna addict --its been 4 hours since i last rode one of my Huskies --

 

[rockdancer]

I think it's a similar situation in Australia . The brand has been increasing in popularity but mainly due to price.
I agree that it seems BMW are dropping the.449 owners into a bad situation. Similar to what they did to the g450x owners really.
I think BMW have had this on the cards for a while. Our local BMW dealer took over the husqvarna dealership in 2011 and dropped it over 6 months ago.

 

[utopia]

Husky riders won quite a few stages. We'd all like to see Husky win, but they did reasonably well. It only takes one bad day to screw up your chance at winning Dakar, just ask Robbie Gordon about that.

The point I was making was to the original post that said that the KTM's were unreliable. You don't take the top 5 places at Dakar on an unreliable machine. I was really hoping to see at least one of the Speedbrain riders in the top 5. They have some talented riders and they seemed to have a good bike, but a lot of stuff happens at Dakar.

 

[oregonsage]

In the US a company is legally obligated to supply parts and support for 10 years.

I have heard variations on this for years, and I have also heard knowledgeable parties state that it is no longer true, if it ever was. What I have not seen is an actual citation of a law the requires actual replacement part availability. It is easy to imagine ways around this. New corporate entity could be used to cleanse liability? Transfer responsibility with sale, then new entity goes out of business?

I, for one do not believe there is a 10 year rule that would be of any benefit.

 

[Kyle Tarry]

its a huge deal. esp if you own a TE/TC and the maker says no more parts after deal signing.

Nowhere does it say no more parts. The sky is not falling.

It says that BMW is no longer going to be involved in parts. That doesn't mean they go away. You think there are a bunch of BMW-owned factories that are just going close up shop overnight? Much of the stuff is probably made by subcontractors, that won't change, and the facilities that are currently owned by BMW (like where they assemble the bikes) will most likely just move over to new ownership.

Do you think that, when the papers get signed, all of the factories where guys are welding frames and assembling bikes as we speak are just going to go lights-out, and the new owner is going to need to build new factories from scratch?

All of the assets required to keep producing bikes will carry on with the name, to the extent required by law, and additionally, to the extent desired by the new owner(s).

Husqvarna is not disappearing, they are just changing owners.

 

[SHY UK]

And Toyota owns Lexus, which is one step above them. It's their "Cadillac" brand.

Three words - Hilux, Landcruiser, Prius ;P

 

[oregonsage]

Three words - Hilux, Landcruiser, Prius ;P

Actually in the US Lexus has a model based on both the LandBruiser and the Prius. They are priced higher, have different styling and are optioned to the eyeballs.

 

[XLEnduroMan]

I wonder what Stefan Pierer plan is? Maybe he is going to unite himself whit the Husaberg engineers and start a new R&D division for Husqvarna in Sweden? Just an idea…

Husqvarna back in Sweden, in any fashion would be incredible.

The price point of the orange and blue bikes is not for me. If Husqvarna prices get jack up to those levels that would suck rusty nuts. If that were the case I would think a Beta would be the beter choice for offroad. Beta's Factory edition bikes look incredible for the price point.

 

[oregonsage]

To play along a bit more....
http://www.audi.co.uk/

http://www.audi.com

http://www.vw.com

In the US the 'lowest' Audi model is the A3 with 2.0 DSI engine (we consider the diesel an'upgrade', in the UK there are several models and equipment levels 'below' that and most of those overlap with VW models. The US also starts with a 2.5 Golf and tops out with the Passat (our own version) or the R32 if you go the sporting route. Aint nothing in our VW range that competes with an R8 or A8 or even A6.

We could spend all day talking about the definition of 'higher' 'better' etc, but it definitely isn't a caste system that one is born into and cannot escape.

 

[Grandia]

all ears.

That's a translation of a translation, so many details could have gotten lost in it. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now.

 

[misterkridered]

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2013/02/stefan-pierer-on-purchasing-husqvarna/


Nieuwsmotor: Why Husqvarna when, with Husaberg, you already have a similar marque?
Stefan Pierer: “We think that with Husqvarna, there’s a specific niche to tackle. With this brand, we want to focus on competing with Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki. We’d like to move the brand to selling 10,000 units per year, then continue watching. For that, Husqvarna needs to go back to it’s roots, it’s strayed too far.”
“The brand has a wonderful history, but a completely wrong model lineup and is on completely the wrong track. The dealer network was not ready to sell two-cylinder street models.”
“We will work with Husqvarna to go back to its origins. We’ll soon be back in motocross and then in supermoto, both sports in which Husqvarna previously dominated. Within the next year, we will make an appropriate motorcycle developed with the specifications and character Husqvarna needs.”

 

[misterkridered]

Nieuwsmotor: How do you integrate Husqvarna and KTM?
Stefan Pierer: “The brands will remain self sufficient in terms of brand perception, models and sales networks, but as I mentioned earlier, there will be a lot of behind the scenes cooperation in the field of R&D, purchasing, components and more. We’re not sure if production will remain in Varese, Italy or move to Mattinghofen, Austria.”
“Initially, Husqvarna was bought by my private company, Pierer Industry, but in the future this may change and possibly involve our Indian partner Bajaj.”

 

[oregonsage]

This is sounding like "KTM is the do everything brand..." and Husky is the dirt/single/competition oriented brand.
We dont need 2 brands selling 990s.

No mention of Husaberg...which I think gets rolled into Husqvarna to forever remove the naming confusion.

 

[Grandia]

More words from Pierer

(quick web translation)
Nieuwsmotor.nl personally spoke with Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM / Husaberg and recently owner of Husqvarna Motorcycles. In a telephone interview, he explains why he took over Husqvarna from BMW.

Nieuwsmotor.nl: "Herr Pierer, congratulations on your purchase of Husqvarna. The biggest question that people in the industry now ask is" why "?"
Stefan Pierer: "In the automotive industry for years you see a similar movement of more brands under one roof. The market is considerably decreased, which has become especially important consolidation. To still sell more products, it makes sense to choose more brands, so that in the niches still expanding sales can be found. The same goes for KTM as a huge brand, we are already the global leader in the field of enduro and motocross, so expanding is very difficult. That is why we, like many other large companies in the automotive, want to have multiple brands thereby creating synergy to our cooperation in such areas as development, purchasing and the like. "

Nieuwsmotor.nl: This is obvious, but why exactly Husqvarna? With Husaberg, you already have a similar mark in the house?
Stefan Pierer: "We think that with Husqvarna we can be active in another niche and take more of the market especially from the Japanese brands. We will with this brand's products focus primarily on brands such as Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki. We would like the niche brand to go to a sale of 10,000 units per year and then go on from there. For that Husqvarna must go back to his roots, it was much too far astray. The brand has a wonderful history but because of a wrong model policy it was completely on the wrong track. it was in terms of dealer network not ready to sell two cylinders for the street. We will work with Husqvarna go back to its origins. We will therefore soon be back in motocross and then in supermoto, both sports which Husqvarna previously been dominant. Within the next year we will develop an appropriate motorcycle with the specifications and character that belongs to a Husqvarna. "

Nieuwsmotor.nl: How do you integrate Husqvarna within the KTM group?
Stefan Pierer: "It will separate, self-sufficient brands remain in brand perception, models and sales networks, but as I mentioned earlier, there will be behind the scenes a lot of cooperation in the field of R & D, purchasing, components and more things in our back office. We will now go and see wether production for Husqvarna should happen at the current location in Varese in Italy or from Mattighofen in Austria. There's nothing decided on that yet on but certainly we can all take time. Initially I purchased Husqvarna from my private company Pierer Industry, but we can take a decission about that in the future as well. This may change later and possibly get our Indian partner Bajaj then also a role as a link to India. "

Nieuwsmotor.nl: An Austrian newspaper asked you about the price, you had nothing to say but "Der Pierer hat noch nie teuer gekauft" (Pierer has never bought too expensive), BMW has also invested a lot of money in Husqvarna.
Stefan Pierer: "I have paid a reasonable price for both parties. It was easy for BMW to come to us if you want to leave out the offroad market. If you offroad think you'll soon joined us as offroad world leaders , while we're only two hours away from each other. I think that all parties have a great deal. It is now up to us to make something out of it! "

 

[pvduke]

Nowhere does it say no more parts. The sky is not falling.

It says that BMW is no longer going to be involved in parts. That doesn't mean they go away. You think there are a bunch of BMW-owned factories that are just going close up shop overnight? Much of the stuff is probably made by subcontractors, that won't change, and the facilities that are currently owned by BMW (like where they assemble the bikes) will most likely just move over to new ownership.

Do you think that, when the papers get signed, all of the factories where guys are welding frames and assembling bikes as we speak are just going to go lights-out, and the new owner is going to need to build new factories from scratch?

All of the assets required to keep producing bikes will carry on with the name, to the extent required by law, and additionally, to the extent desired by the new owner(s).

Husqvarna is not disappearing, they are just changing owners.

i dont think that at all. im not some naive idiot.

it says what it says. if not one else finds it concerning, great.

im done with, and, dropping it.

 

[Coffee]

im done with, and, dropping it.

Thank you.

I will do some research soon regarding the issues you are concerned with.

 

[454x]

Coffee your the man!Taken care of the members.

 

[ScottyR]

There will be no issues with parts. Guaranteed, the new owners bought the entire inventory of parts in Husqvarna's warehouses. Most parts are sourced from outside vendors so KTM will have no issues calling up a supplier and buying more Husqvarna spec parts.

There is no question that BMW will not be supplying any of their proprietory engines to the new owners of Husq once the deal closes. No more 650s or 449s is what I read. I am really interested in how they are going to handle the service/parts issues for the Terra and Strada. It takes a BMW tool to do anything with the bike. I can see the new Husqvarna saying take your Terra to your local BMW dealer for warranty work once the deal closes. Kind of like taking your Saab to a GM dealer for warranty work.