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Gottfried Neumeister, CEO of PIERER Mobility AG: "I'm grateful and happy today. KTM is back on track. Our employees have done everything they can over the last three months to ensure that the race can continue. We have closed an important chapter today. But a single chapter never tells the whole story. Now we can continue KTM's great story. We're doing it for the millions of KTM fans around the world, to whom we're grateful every day. For our factory riders, of whom we're damn proud. And for our location in Austria, to which we're deeply connected in our hearts. KTM remains one of the top employers in industry of Upper Austria."
Fresh capital of about 800 million Euros is still required
The group needs fresh capital of about 800 million Euros to finance the cash quota and further production. The 30% cash quota must be paid by KTM AG to the restructuring administrator by May 23rd, 2025.
In order to carry out this process in a structured, transparent, and efficient manner for the benefit of all the stakeholders, Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG ("Citigroup") has been commissioned to oversee this investment process.
So that production can be gradually ramped up again from March 17th 2025, KTM AG will be provided with financial resources of 50 million Euros from the expanded group of shareholders. The planned full capacity of the four production lines in single-shift operations is to be achieved within three months.
KTM has four undisputed top riders and former world champions under contract for the MotoGP World Championship 2025: Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta, and Maverick Viñales, who finished 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, respectively, in the MotoGP World Championship in 2024. In addition, this quartet has won five world championship titles and 71 GP victories among them. Apart from KTM, only Ducati can boast such a grandiose MotoGP formation with stars like Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Fermin Aldeguer, Franco Morbidelli, and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Hervé Poncharal, operator of the KTM MotoGP customer team since 2019 and president of the IRTA team association for approximately 20 years, will compete next season with KTM newcomers Bastianini and Viñales, who was relieved after today's decision in Austria.
"This is of course the best possible result," the French riders said happily today in an interview with GPOne.com. "But I have to say that we were never very worried. Of course, the situation was stressful for all of us, especially for the riders and the team members. I had to reassure them several times that everything would end well. I was regularly informed by Pit Beirer, who also passed on the news from Stefan Pierer to me. It was always clear. The MotoGP program isn't in danger. That's why we tried to be perfectly prepared for the start of the season. Because now one race follows the other, the calendar is pretty hectic, there could actually be twenty-two Grand Prixs for the first time. It wasn't just about developing our MotoGP package but also about having enough spare parts for the season. Nevertheless, today's decision is great news, not only for KTM and for Tech3, but above all for the MotoGP world and for the MotoGP World Championship. Wr're relieved. And I'm sure Dorna's Carmelo Ezpeleta is also very happy with this news."
Poncharal hopes that Bastianini and Viñales will help KTM win a race in the premier class this year for the first time since Spielberg 2021 (Binder). "I hope that this news will give Enea and Maverick an extra ten percent of motivation, since they now know that their future is secure. They'll do everything they can to get closer to the top riders in the first races.“
"My congratulations also go to the team and the board of KTM in Austria, who worked so determinedly to overcome this difficult economic situation. I'm pleased to see that Europe's largest motorcycle manufacturer will hopefully soon be stronger than ever again. You can always look at life from two different perspectives. Either the glass is half empty or half full. Something like this can also bring with it certain instructive insights. Let's go racing again. We are Ready to Race."
KTM is even working hard on the 850 cc engine for 2027, and the Austrians would like to be awarded the Moto3 500 cc twin standard motorcycles for 2027 or 2028. KTM is already negotiating with Dorna for five more MotoGP years from 2027 to 2031.
Poncharal intends to continue to form the KTM customer team in MotoGP after 2026. "As IRTA President, I'm negotiating with Carmelo Ezpeleta not only for Tech3 about the future, but also for the five other customer teams, Pramac, LCR, Gresini, Trackhouse, and VR46. My goal is to be present with Tech3 until 2031. And I'll try very hard to sign a new contract with Pierer Mobility for this phase. There is no plan B. We want to continue working with KTM after 2026."
The Pierer Group wants to produce 230,000 motorcycles again in 2025 and could then compete with BMW for the role of the largest manufacturer in Europe. BMW reported sales of 210,000 motorcycles in 2024.
In a few years, the competition between KTM and its German rival, BMW, will probably also take place at the MotoGP events. The Munich-based company is planning to enter the premier class, which has already been canceled five times, by 2028 at the latest.
Dorna was also relieved to see KTM be rescued because they can now start the season as planned, with five factory teams and six satellite teams to the planned extent.
The 50 million EUros for restarting motorcycle production starting March 17th is to come from the Indian major shareholder, Bajaj. According to information from GPOne.com, the ominous investor who is supposed to replace Stefan Pierer as majority owner is likely to be the up-and-coming Chinese motorcycle manufacturer CFMOTO.
At the beginning of July 2023, the Pierer Group reported on the intensified cooperation with CFMOTO. In January 2023, KTM had already taken over the distribution of CFMOTO motorcycles in Switzerland as well as in Germany, Austria, Spain and Great Britain. This was intended to increase CFMOTO's volume from 50,000 to 100,000 motorcycles.
The Pierer Group and CFMOTO agreed on a long-term partnership at the time. The new KTM shareholder became the production and sales partner for KTM motorcycles in China. At the same time, the family-run company from Asia expanded its stake in Pierer Mobility. The Lai family, as the majority shareholder of CFMOTO, has been known for more than ten years, said Hubert Trunkenpolz, then CEO of KTM AG.
CFMOTO increased its stake in Pierer Mobility in 2023 to 2.0%, from around 1.4% "as a sign of deepening cooperation".
In keeping with the slogan "Ready to Race", Pierer also handed over a Moto3 GP team equipped with KTM RC4 bikes to CFMOTO for the first time in 2022 and 2023, which was operated by PrüstelGP. In 2024, the CFMOTO budget of around 1.5 million Euros was transferred to Aspar Martinez, who also fielded a Moto2 team for CFMOTO and confidently won the Moto3 World Championship with David Alonso.
