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Stefan Pierer develops his entrepreneurial skills best when he is confronted with a crisis situation and has to steer his company through stormy times. For years, the 67-year-old Styrian was involved in company acquisitions as founder of the investment company Cross Industries and today's Pierer Mobility AG as well as CEO of KTM AG, after he took over KTM following the company's bankruptcy in 1992 - at a dumping price of around 3.5 million euros.
The trained corporate raider then repeatedly acquired stakes in well-known companies such as Rosenbauer International AG (active worldwide in the firefighter business), Pankl Racing and WP Suspension, and later took over the run-down off-road motorcycle company Husqvarna Motorcycles from BMW in 2012. In spring 2020, Pierer bought 100% of the motorcycle brand GASGAS in Spain and two years ago acquired a first 25,1 % stake in the traditional brand MV Agusta, in which he now holds a majority shareholding of 50.1% since last spring. The aim is to take over 100 percent of the premium brand in Varese by 2026. At least 5000 MV Agusta models are to be sold in the next financial year.
Stefan Pierer announced his intention to become the third-largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world alongside Honda and Yamaha shortly after KTM's factory entry into the Moto3 World Championship in 2012, but revised this plan because Suzuki and Kawasaki remained out of reach and then resolved: “We want to become the third-largest sports motorcycle manufacturer in the world.”
After the company acquisitions, the Pierer Group soon surpassed the sales figures of Harley Davidson and BMW and became the largest manufacturer of motorized motorcycles in Europe, although the Pierer production motorcycles are still equipped with a maximum of two cylinders. The only exception is the 1000 cc V4 MotoGP factory machine KTM RC16.
But one of Stefan Pierer's longings remained unfulfilled. The successful entrepreneur also wanted to acquire the luxury brand Ducati from Borgo Panigale, which was bought by the VW Group in 2012 - for a reported 730 million euros.
In 2016, Harley Davidson and the Benetton Group as well as renowned banks and other investors had already failed to purchase Ducati Motor and Ducati Corse. The German owners described Ducati as a jewel of the Volkswagen Group. Furthermore, after a few lean years, Ducati Motor Holding generated a turnover of 598 million euros in 2016 and made a profit of 50 million euros. Ducati also returned to winning ways in the MotoGP World Championship in 2016 after a long dry spell with Iannone and Dovizioso on the Desmosedici GP16.
On December 7, 2017, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer made headlines around the world in an interview with Günther Wiesinger when he announced for the first time that he was interested in taking over the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, which had been bought five years earlier by the VW Group under Ferdinand Piëch - for around 730 million euros. Within the VW Group, Ducati was assigned as a sports motorcycle manufacturer to the Audi Group, to which Lamborghini also belongs.
Stefan Pierer has repeatedly assured in the past that he will not build motorcycles with more than two cylinders with his brands KTM, Husqvarna and GASGAS. “To be able to offer a three-cylinder, Triumph would have to join our group, which I rule out, no matter how hard my Indian partner Bajaj tries,” he stated in March 2021.
However, Pierer hinted several times that four-cylinder bikes could one day become an issue for the Austrian plant through a purchase from Ducati. He said at the time: “Ducati will come under pressure. All the new challenges such as digitalization and e-mobility, new emissions standards - a manufacturer as small as Ducati cannot cope with these alone in the long term.”
However, VW's top managers were reluctant to sell Ducati to Stefan Pierer, who bought 100% of the Spanish manufacturer GASGAS with his Pierer Mobility AG group in spring 2020 - and continued to grow, although the euphoric goal of bringing more than 400,000 motorcycles onto the market as early as 2022, which was expressed in 2018, could not be realized.
The Covid-19 pandemic had temporarily slowed down the growth of the Pierer brands.
However, Stefan Pierer reiterated his clear interest in the Ducati gem in spring 2021. Pierer: “Negotiations with VW took place last November and December. But the Piëch and Porsche families are not selling, not even the third generation. Perhaps vanity also plays a role here.” He then added: “The purchase of Ducati is now off the table.”
For good? “Never say never. I've already learned that in our industry,” Pierer replied at the time. Then he added: “Ducati is the Ferrari of the motorcycle industry.”
In the meantime Pierer Mobility can offer road motorcycles with more than two cylinders – thanks to MV Agusta, a brand that fits the Austrian «Ready to Race» slogan and has won 75 world titles in its glorious past.
Even without Ducati, Pierer Mobility AG achieved its tenth record year in a row in 2020. Despite the coronavirus crisis, 270,407 motorcycles were sold, plus almost 100,000 electric bikes from the R-Raymon and Husqvarna brands. Four years ago, the company had a total turnover of 1530 million euros.
In 2023 financial year the PIERER Mobility Group increased consolidated sales by 9.2% to € 2.661,2 million (previous year: € 2.437,2 million) despite difficult economic conditions and upheaval in the bike industry. The operating result (EBIT) fell by around 32% to € 160 million (previous year: € 235,3 million). At € 323,5 million, the operating result before depreciation and amortization was around 15% below the previous year's figure.
To reach those figures, big investments were made. The Husqvarna and GASGAS brands were also sent to every conceivable racing series at huge expense - from Moto3 and Moto2 to the MXGP and MX2 Motocross World Championships, US Supercross and Dakar Rally. With GASGAS, Pierer did not even stop at the MotoGP class.
With the slogan “Ready To Race”, the former off-road specialist KTM regularly outshone even the Japanese manufacturers - for example in the Moto3 World Championship and the Dakar Rally, in the Motocross World Championship and in the US Supercross World Championship. That's why the next step was taken in 2017 - KTM entered the Moto2 and MotoGP World Championships as a factory manufacturer.
In 2021, KTM equipped a customer team in the premier class for the first time with Tech3. Stefan Pierer revealed at the time that the motorcycle GP activities (including the Red Bull Rookies Cup) would swallow up a total of 30 million euros, with sponsor Red Bull contributing around 10 million. In 2022, the GP budget was already at 70 million. In 2023 and 2024, €10 million from the GASGAS budget was invested in the Red Bull Tech3 MotoGP Factory Team. The in-house Moto2 project was canceled at the end of 2019 in order to be able to direct more resources and manpower into MotoGP.
With success: Brad Binder won in Brno in 2020, in Spielberg in 2021, Miguel Oliveira won five MotoGP races. And Pol Espargaró missed out on third place in the 2020 World Championship to Rins by just four points. In 2023, KTM finished second behind Ducati in the Manufacturers' World Championship; Brad Binder finished 6th, 6th and 4th in the Riders' World Championship in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
In 2021, the KTM Factory Racing department was opened right next to the WP Suspension headquarters (with 500 employees) in Munderfing.
Pit Beirer, 250cc Motocross World Championship runner-up in 1999, took over the role of Motorsport Director in Mattighofen in 2004. At that time, KTM was looking back on a manageable 79 world championship title wins. Today, KTM has no fewer than 348 world championship titles (!) to its name.
As a global cycling boom emerged during the coronavirus era, Pierer Mobility invested huge sums in the bicycle business. The former Haibike factory mainly produced e-bikes under the R-Raymon, Husqvarna and GASGAS brands. Two years ago, the former US cult brand FELT was purchased for 12 million, but had lost much of its reputation in seven years under Rossignol's ownership. Pierer also acquired the bicycle component manufacturer Liteville, and huge bicycle production facilities were to be built in Bulgaria. A total of 15 branches of the bicycle dealer chain “bikes & wheels” were planned in Austria; there are currently three, and it is likely to stay that way. Bicycle sales rose to 157,358 units at Pierer in the previous year, an increase of 33 percent.
Motorcycle sales increased moderately by 1.6 percent to 381,555 units in 2023, which is why first cost-cutting measures were taken in Mattighofen already a year ago.
Pierer's bicycle business is now being significantly downsized in order to concentrate on the core motorcycle business.
The seven-member Executive Board of KTM AG is now working relentlessly to consolidate the motorcycle business and bring it back into the profit zone. The motorcycles from the Pierer Group's excess stock from 2023 and 2024 are now being offered at discounts of up to 20 percent.
While Pierer Mobility AG now serves as a financial holding company, KTM AG is now the operating company under which all other companies are combined. “The Executive Board has remained unchanged. It consists of Stefan Pierer, Gottfried Neumeister, Florian Kecht, Alex Pierer, Philipp Habsburg, Rudolf Wiesbeck and myself,” says Hubert Trunkenpolz, who was appointed CEO of MV Agusta Motor by Stefan Pierer and is also increasingly responsible for global motorsport activities on the Executive Board. “In the operating company, the Executive Board remains unchanged at the helm. And everyone is helping together to repair the damage”, Trunkenpolz explains.
After the profit warning on October 21, 2024, the Austrians are convinced: “We have the worst behind us.”
Even if the rain came to the rescue, KTM has already taken a first step towards a turnaround in the MotoGP at the Buriram GP on Sunday. With Pedro Acosta (fifth podium finish in 2024 as a rookie) in third place and Jack Miller and Brad Binder in fifth and sixth, the overwhelming Ducati dominance of Saturday was somewhat defused.
Binder and Acosta remain in the top 6 in the MotoGP Riders' Championship and in the Constructors' Championship the lead over Aprilia (3rd place) has grown to 26 points.
KTM has won in all motorsport disciplines so far - and in its eighth MotoGP season is number 2 behind Ducati, as it was last year.
Company boss Stefan Pierer is a successful entrepreneur who does not give up after setbacks.
In Austria, everything is now being done to provide the new rider duos for 2025 (Binder and Acosta at Red Bull KTM and Bastianini and Viñales at Red Bull KTM Tech3) with winning material.
“We need more orange in the GP paddock,” announced Stefan Pierer at the 2002 Jerez GP before KTM entered the 125cc World Championship in 2003.
Now the Husqvarna and GASGAS brands are being withdrawn from GP racing. The red supremacy is to be shaken and orange is to become the new fashion color.
