Husqvarna is a Swedish motorcycle brand, well known for its MotoCross
and Enduro bikes. It has had a troublesome time of ownership changes in
the past few years. It was based in Italy under the marquee of MV
Augusta, before BMW acquired it in 2007, only to hand it over again. But
it looks like there’s a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel now.
There has been quite a buzz over this development. At a time when KTM is all over the place with its quirky
designs and an even quirkier-yet-attractive exhaust note, speculations
of KTM having brought Husqvarna into its fold have spread like wildfire
on various automobile forums. Well, the fact is that Husqvarna has been
acquired by Pierer Industrie AG, the investment mechanism of Stefan
Pierer. Stefan himself has made it clear that both KTM and Husky will
retain their identities, and even compete with each other if the need
arises.
It seems Mr. Pierer has planned out a lot of his moves in advance. In
an exclusive teté-a-teté with CNBC-TV18, he spoke about the probability
of Huskies like the TE250 rolling out from Chakan within a couple of
years. They will be on-road-as-well-as-off-road motorcycles, aimed at
serious tourers and riders who want the versatility of both the worlds.
The only such product in the market right now is the Hero Impulse,
though there is every possibility of the BMW-TVS courtship-period
spawning such dual-purpose products.
In another interview with CycleNews, Pierer mentioned that the three
brands might share some portions across the platform. The Pulsar will be
projected as a cheaper, en-masse alternative, and the Duke will lie in
the medium value range. Husqvarna will be the premium brand lying above
the other two, and it will put to use small capacity engines that will
be jointly developed by KTM-Bajaj.
The overall strategy seems to be of letting three brands share a lot
of parts, and this definitely does look financially attractive. Profit
margins could soar skywards for Bajaj and KTM, and the good-old-days of
Husqvarna might just be back.
For us bikers, times seem to move towards merrier ways. Now we can
look forward to having some real choice of products that will be at
ease, both on the highway and the regular pavements, as well as the
slush-and-dirt filled tracks in the hills nearby.
We are looking forward to it with an earnest hope, aren’t you?
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