BMW Sells Husqvarna

CDA

CDA

As has been rumored for the past few weeks, BMW has agreed to sell the Husqvarna brand. But the sale isn't to KTM as originally believed, but instead to Pierer Industrie AG of Austria - the company owned by Stephan Pierer, the CEO of KTM.
BMW says the sale of Husky is part of the realignment of its BMW Motorrad business.
"In the context of changing motorcycle markets, demographic trends and increasing environmental demands, BMW Motorrad will expand its product offering to exploit future growth potential," a release from BMW issued this morning states. "The focus of the realignment will be on urban mobility and e-mobility. By restructuring the segment, the BMW Group will concentrate on expanding and utilizing the resources of the BMW Motorrad brand. Therefore the BMW Group signed a purchase agreement with Pierer Industrie AG (Austria) for the acquisition of Husqvarna Motorcycles. The acquisition will proceed subject to approval by anti-trust authorities. Both companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price."
BMW purchased Husqvarna from the Castiglioni family (the owners of MV Agusta) in 2008 and have been active in expanding the line-up - both with new off-road models and streetbikes like the Nuda 900.
Although it sounds like BMW will focus its efforts on the "urban mobility" sector, it closed its press release with... "core segments from the 650 single-cylinder entry-level bike to the six-cylinder luxury tourer will also be selectively expanded."
BMW Motorrad achieved new sales records in 2012, according to BMW.
"With the realignment of its motorcycle business, BMW Motorrad aims to maintain profitable and sustainable growth over the coming years," the release states. "Its current core business consists exclusively of premium vehicles in the categories "Tourer", "Enduro", "Sport", "Roadster" and "Maxi-Scooter" from 650 to 1600cc. BMW Motorrad entered the urban mobility segment for the first time in 2012 with the C 650 GT and C 600 Sport maxi-scooters. The next step in the expansion of the product line-up in this segment will be the series launch of the "C evolution" electric scooter in 2014. Further innovative vehicle concepts are also under consideration. Drive trains will include both environmentally friendly combustion engines and pure electric drives. This move by BMW Motorrad reflects the BMW Group's overall focus on early identification of trends, such as megacities and traffic density, as well as environmental issues. Corresponding products and services are already available for the automobile segment."​
 
josmoloco

josmoloco

Reuters) - The owner of offroad motorbike maker KTM (KTMP.VI) acquired rival brand Husqvarna fromGermany's BMW (BMWG.DE) on Thursday in a consolidation move that helps shave costs as the industry copes with a slump in Europe.
Entrepreneur Stefan Pierer, who owns a majority stake in KTM, told Reuters he was taking a page out of Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) book by buying the Italian-based company, whose one-cylinder enduros and motocross bikes are dubbed "Huskies" by their fans.
"Almost ten years ago we started a small platform strategy just like what Volkswagen does on a far larger level," he said in a telephone interview after the deal, declining to provide financial details.
"Even though this is a niche business, you have the same problem as in the car industry. Development costs for modern, sporty motorcycles are so high - especially for engines - that a small brand (like Husqvarna) can no longer shoulder them on its own."
Pierer's KTM also owns the Husaberg, a Swedish brand founded by two engineers in 1988 after Husqvarna motorcycle moved its operations toItaly from its Scandinavian home.
"I want to see Husqvarna sales double in five years time to 20,000 motorbikes," he said, adding that his immediate focus would be on rejuvenating the ageing line-up of offroad models.
Instead of fully integrating both companies, Husqvarna and KTM will be managed separately, while reaping the benefits of using common components.
"This way we can use common engineering platforms to develop a variety of models that have completely different characteristics for each brand," Pierer said.
Husqvarna generated roughly 65 million euros selling roughly 10,000 bikes, he said, while KTM sold 107,000 motorcycles with revenue of 612 million euros.
In a rare acquisition, BMW scooped up Husqvarna at the peak of the market in 2007 to improve its position in the field of light, sporty motorbikes and extend the range to include younger customer groups as well as the entire off-road and supermoto sector.
The market in Europe, however, has shrunk almost by half since the deal, and BMW never attained sustained growth of the business in the face of such harsh headwinds.
BMW said it was selling the brand as part of a strategic realignment of its motorcycle business to focus on urban and electric mobility "in the context of changing motorcycle markets, demographic trends and increasing environmental demands."
KTM by comparison has a strong position in the segment in which Husqvarna competes, with roughly 30 percent of the global market share in motocross and 50 percent in enduro, according to Pierer.
When asked whether he was concerned the two brands might cannibalise each other's sales, he admitted there would be a slight effect.
Overall, however, the Husqvarna brand would help it take share away from Honda (7267.T), Yamaha (7272.T), Kawasaki (7012.T) and Suzuki (7269.T).
"It's never 1 plus 1 equals 3, but it's certainly 2.7, and there are still four Japanese brands from which there's plenty to grab."
(Reporting By Christiaan Hetzner; editing by Andrew Hay)
 
cleonard

cleonard

So BMW bought Husky and announced the end of parts support for pre BMW Huskies. What now? If you have BMW Husky are you screwed parts wise? What about the pre-BMW Huskies? Just seems like the Husky owner gets screwed.

I do hope for some stability going forward.
 
PSJBrock

PSJBrock

cleonard:
So BMW bought Husky and announced the end of parts support for pre BMW Huskies. What now? If you have BMW Husky are you screwed parts wise? What about the pre-BMW Huskies? Just seems like the Husky owner gets screwed.

I do hope for some stability going forward.
Click to expand...

With this announcement I am thinking that I will only own one Husky. I have a feeling that KTM is going to do away with the small company feel and support. I doubt the Contingency is going to stay in place and other things like that.
 
PALMER84ONE

PALMER84ONE

PSJBrock:
With this announcement I am thinking that I will only own one Husky. I have a feeling that KTM is going to do away with the small company feel and support. I doubt the Contingency is going to stay in place and other things like that.
Click to expand...

That is why I am down from 4 to ONE!!!
 
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