Explore Business Standard
Bajaj Auto, which is set to take majority control of KTM AG, is looking at various options, including moving more production to India and job cuts as part of plans to reduce costs at the financially troubled Austrian bike maker, a senior company official said on Friday. The Pune-based two and three-wheeler maker is expected to get required regulatory approvals and gain majority control over KTM AG by mid-November, Bajaj Auto Executive Director Rakesh Sharma told reporters in a Q2 earnings call. "We have made an application for taking majority control over KTM AG, and we have submitted our application. There are some nine approvals which are needed from various commissions in Europe, and eight of them have been secured," he said. He further said, "The ninth one should also be through, hopefully by mid-November, which is when the turnaround can start, to be very actively led and directed by us." Responding to a query on whether it made sense for KTM to continue manufacturing operatio
Austrian bike maker KTM on Saturday said the judicial restructuring of its holding firm Pierer Mobility AG has no impact on business related to products co-developed with Bajaj Auto for Indian domestic market and select export markets. However, it is impacting business of Pierer Mobility AG/KTM AG that is run out of Austria, including exports from Austria, India and China to its key markets in the US and Europe. On November 26, given the immediate liquidity constraints, the Executive Board of KTM AG has decided to file an application for the initiation of judicial restructuring proceedings with self-administration over the assets of KTM AG and its subsidiaries KTM Components GmbH and KTM F&E GmbH, the company said in a statement. All other subsidiaries of KTM AG, in particular all sales companies, are not affected, it added. "It is to be noted that the aforesaid matter has a bearing on the business of Pierer Mobility AG/KTM AG that is run out of Austria," the company said. These .
The head of Swiss sports bike maker KTM, which claims to be the world's No 1 premium motorbike brand and also sells tens of hundreds of e-bikes in Europe, is not confident of the capability of electric vehicles beyond a point and feels that optimism on this front is "highly overrated". KTM, which is primarily into high-end racing bikes, has a 50.1:49.9 manufacturing JV with Bajaj Auto. It will also be selling the electric model of the resurrected iconic Chetak scooters from the Bajaj stable in Europe from the first quarter of 2024. "The whole scope and capability of the concept of electric vehicle mobility is highly overrated. It's the result of mixing the laws of physics incorrectly and also by mis-reading the laws of energy," Stefan Pierer, the chief executive of Pierer Mobility that owns the KTM brand, told a select group of journalists at a media roundtable here. "I know it isn't easy to tell and convince the politicians about the sheer impracticality of attempting to make ...
City-based start-up AlphaVector on Thursday announced partnership with European bicycle maker KTM to launch the latter's premium bicycle range in the country. With this partnership, AlphaVector launches and becomes the exclusive distributor of KTM bicycles in the Indian market, the company said in a statement. Priced between Rs 30,000-10 lakh, the premium segment will expand AlphaVector's portfolio beyond the recently launched e-bicycle (Meraki) and existing mountain, all-terrain, hybrid, fat-tire bikes in the mass-premium segment, it added. "Cycling in India has seen a paradigm shift and is evolving at a tremendous pace. The premium segment is witnessing traction with people adopting cycling as a lifestyle especially in the metro cities," said Sachin Chopra, co-founder and CEO of AlphaVector India Pvt Ltd. "We are excited to bring KTM bicycles to India to cater to this growing demand and not just deliver unmatched quality and performance but also an exceptional buying and ownershi