KTM isn't settling. A power struggle between Stefan Pierer and Neumeister is evident. What the MotoGP's future holds is impossible to predict. A sale of the factory team is planned, and its withdrawal after 2026 is possible.
Following the conclusion of KTM's 90-day insolvency proceedings, and the acquisition of KTM's majority stake by Indian motorcycle manufacturer Rajiv Bajaj via a call option (valid until May 2026), KTM's new CEO and Chairman of the Board of Pierer Mobility AG, Gottfried Neumeister, stated: "The existing headquarters, especially our main plant in Mattighofen/Munderfing, remain the foundation for our future success. This means we'll continue to be an important employer for the entire region."
In an interview with ORF TV at the end of May, Neumeister brushed aside the objection that even the Pierer Group's 390cc models were manufactured in Asia for years at a cost of approximately €1,000 less than in Upper Austria. "We're not worried about the headquarters at all," Neumeister emphasized. "We've been given the opportunity to continue KTM's history. Together with our long-standing partner Bajaj, we were able to develop a strategy that will raise an additional 600 million euros for our new start, in addition to the 200 million euros already made available. Our main plants in Mattighofen and Munderfing will remain the foundation for our success. We stated this throughout the entire insolvency proceedings. We've also negotiated a work agreement to prevent mass layoffs. This headquarters is clearly being kept. This means we'll continue to be an important employer for the entire region."
Since his two-day appearance with Rajiv Bajaj in India, after the Brno GP this summer, Neumeister has become considerably more subdued. Bajaj recently made it clear as to what the new direction for saving KTM is: "Manufacturing in Europe is dead." That's why former Triumph owner, John Bloor, had already relocated 100% of production from England to Thailand over 15 years ago, Rajiv Bajaj explained a few days ago in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
In May, Neumeister still dreamt that KTM would remain a European manufacturer in the long term. But a look at the German automotive industry makes it evident an additional 90,000 jobs are threatened by 2030 there, as well, due to the superior e-mobility dominance of the Chinese, South Koreans, and other Asian countries.
On May 26th, 2025, Neumeister highlighted the advantages of the Upper Austrian location: "Purposeful labor costs only account for six to eight percent of total production costs. While that's an important cost factor, it's much more important where you source the steel and components. And we score points with our know-how and enthusiasm."
But this know-how and passion led to an operating loss of approximately €200 million Euros in the first half of 2025, and production had to be halted twice for three months each time.
At the same time, Neumeister announced that, due to austerity measures, the continuation of MotoGP's participation would be reviewed. At the time, he literally said: "We have to see if we can afford the MotoGP."
After the visit to India, one can imagine that the future majority owner, Bajaj, will no longer provide the annual motorsport budget of approximately €60 million Euros for 2026. The MotoGP project alone, with two teams and four riders – Acosta, Binder, Viñales, and Bastianini – costs around €40 to €45 million Euros per year.
When Neumeister acted like a motorcycle god ("We build the best motorcycles in the world") in an interview with ServusTV in Brno after KTM’s first MotoGP podium finish at the 12th Grand Prix in 2025, it wasn't just the heads of Red Bull - who are known for their low-profile appearances - who resented him. Neumeister's completely awkward performance also aroused the displeasure of Bajaj and and KTM's major shareholder, Stefan Pierer.
After all, Bajaj had saved KTM from ruin just a few weeks earlier with a financial injection of approximately €600 million Euros, and Stefan Pierer was trying to future-proof his alliance with Bajaj, which began in 2007, by seeking new investors and a partner from the European motorcycle industry.
Pierer sold his 50.1% stake in MV Agusta Motor back to the Sardarov family and sold the KTM X-bow sports car company to a Belgian entrepreneur. At a meeting in Zurich, Bajaj and Pierer agreed to sell the Swiss-based company, KTM Racing AG (which holds the contracts for the four MotoGP factory riders, with Dorna and Tech3) to a private equity giant like Blackrock. The Munderfing-based company, KTM Factory Racing, including its MotoGP racing department and building, is also up for sale.
While CEO Neumeister acted as lead negotiator with Dorna at the Brno GP, two weeks later, at the Spielberg GP, it was surprisingly Pierer who led the negotiations. "I'm back in the game," the Styrian - who had handed over his position as CEO and Chairman of the Board at KTM to Neumeister last winter - declared. However, Neumeister's contract expires on August 31st, 2026.
The fact that a power struggle between Pierer and Neumeister has been raging at KTM for weeks hasn't escaped anyone who can count to three. Pierer continues to enjoy the esteem of Rajiv Bajaj and is confident that he can sell the MotoGP project, including the impressive property in Munderfing, to an investor for approximately 100 million Euros.
Pierer resigned from all his positions due to the insolvency proceedings in the winter, but he continues to hold the majority stake in Pierer Bajaj AG and is now looking for fresh capital to sustainably save his life's work, continue to own at least 25.1% of the company, and be able to claim a seat on the supervisory board.
In a recent interview with Australian Motor Cycle News (AMCN), Neumeister hinted that rigorous austerity measures will be necessary to get KTM back on track to success. "We became a tanker, but we need to become a speedboat again. To be the biggest European manufacturer is not the goal. I'd rather be the best and most profitable," he said.
"Ready to Race will remain the core of everything we do. Motorsports is a key part of our DNA. There's no question mark around our engagement in motorsports, buto cutting back on racing is an obvious option. I've been asked if we'll continue in the MotoGP, How important it is. I think no factory can currently answer that. It will depend on the new regulations for 2027. In Formula 1, there was a cost cap, which also helped smaller teams be competitive. That’s important." Neumeister wants to find out how Dorna and Liberty Media will distribute the income for the MotoGP World Championship towards the motorcycle factories and teams. "Once you know how the set-up is, you can really make a decision," KTM's CEO added.
"I'm personally a fan of the MotoGP. But you can argue that it isn’t translating into sales because we don’t have the model range. I think KTM is known from Buenos Aries to Bangkok because of twenty-two different MotoGP races happening around the world. But we'll have to wait and see what the new rules and regulations are and seen if it makes sense to continue or not," Neumeister told AMCN. "We have to fulfill this answer with our own business plan. It has to make sense for our whole company. Staying in the MotoGP because the equity value of the team is increasing shouldn’t be the reason. It has to make sense for our own marketing and research purposes. Partnering with someone might be an option. I'm open to options."
The Tech3-KTM team (with Viñales and Bastianini) will be taken over after the 2025 season by former Haas Formula 1 principal, Günther Steiner, and APEX, the investment firm. Red Bull will most likely not remain on board, since Steiner was twice dismissed from Red Bull Racing in Formula 1 and later from the Red Bull NASCAR project.
The contract between Red Bull and the KTM MotoGP Factory Team with Acosta and Binder is expiring. Despite the strange inconsistencies surrounding KTM's management, a new deal is planned for 2026. The move to HRC is expected to be postponed until 2027, because that's when the new 850cc era begins and a more powerful rider duo can be presented, for example, with World Champion Jorge Martin, who won the 2014 Red Bull Rookies Cup, used his 2020 Moto2 World Championship place with Red Bull KTM Ajo as a springboard for his MotoGP career, and has since promoted the energy drink company.
When Ducati's triumphant march began, KTM repeatedly poached Italian personnel, from Fabiano Sterlacchini and Francesco Guidotti to Bastianini's crew chief, Alberto Giribuola. But the turbulent past twelve months have seen the loss of many skilled technicians. Giribuola also saw no future at KTM. He immediately quit after Bastianini’s first KTM podium at the Catalunya GP. And engine genius, Kurt Trieb, has been working for Honda since August 1st.
KTM has been on an upward trend in the MotoGP since Brno. Acosta, as a rookie last year, achieved nine podium finishes, but only two in 2025. And Brad Binder, once the epitome of reliability, has only achieved two sixth-place finishes in 2025. The dismal haul for last year's fifth-place finisher in the World Championship this year is 95 points in 30 races, eleventh place in the World Championship.
The situation in the MXGP World Championship, the premier class in motocross, is also creating headaches for KTM's management. Red Bull KTM factory rider Lucas Coenen is only 26 points behind Romain Febvre (Kawasaki). There are still two Grand Prixs to go, but Coenen's title chances would be much more promising if his highly paid KTM colleague, Jeffrey Herlings ,hadn't snatched valuable points from him several times recently.