There may be troubling times ahead for one of MotoGP’s biggest manufacturers, as fresh financial woes at KTM, GasGas, and Husqvarna parent company Pierer Mobility AG that sent the company’s stock price plummeting this week looks set to have an inevitable knock-on effect for the group’s extensive motorsport portfolio.
The brand has been in financial trouble for some time, with its share price steadily dropping from a high of 94 Swiss Francs per share in early 2022 to almost a quarter of that in recent months as it struggles with lagging sales as well as substantial debt as a result of the acquisition of brands such as GasGas, Husqvarna and 51% of MV Agusta.
The end result of that has been, essentially, more money going out in loan repayments than coming in from bike sales, something starkly illustrated in a statement issued on Tuesday by the company confirming that it would fail to make its 2024 projections.
That in turn dropped the share prices even further, with stocks now trading at only 14CHF each, a huge 85% reduction in value over only a two-year period.
It comes amid a slump in both motorbike and bicycle sales, with Pierer also holding a number of pedal-powered names under its umbrella, and hasn’t been aided by a series of substantial technical issues with its street bikes, mainly revolving around excessive crankshaft wear across the entire 890cc class of bikes.
Pierer has already announced a substantial restructuring of its motorsport activities for next season as a result of the sales decline, with the GasGas, CFMoto and Husqvarna brands disappearing as they get subsumed back into the KTM name.
Rebranding exercises over the past seasons included satellite MotoGP team Tech3 taking on the name of legendary Spanish brand GasGas, substantial investment in frontrunning Moto2 and Moto3 team IntactGP under the Husqvarna name, and David Alonso lifting the 2024 Moto3 world championship for the CFMoto-backed Aspar team only a few weeks ago.
Factory support is set to continue for those teams in 2025, albeit under a different brand name, which means KTM is still investing heavily in two-wheeled racing for now, something that may well change should the financial crisis continue to worsen.
The cuts may have already started, too, with rumours suggesting that KTM’s entry into the World Supersport championship in 2025 - a long-awaited return to production racing under the series’ new next generation rules - has been dropped.
It’s unlikely that this will be the only cut, given the extent of the current financial issues, an issue further compounded by reduced backing from long-time sponsorship partner and fellow Austrian brand Red Bull following the death of its motorsport fanatic CEO Dietrich Mateschitz in late 2022.
The worrying news for the group comes just as KTM is preparing for what it would hope would be a breakthrough MotoGP season in 2025 as it promotes its rising superstar Pedro Acosta to its factory team alongside Brad Binder and recruits experienced race winners Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini from Aprilia and Ducati respectively to fill the Tech3 seats.
Asked about the news in a press conference ahead of the Thai Grand Prix, Binder said: "For me, my understanding is everything continues as normal.
"The only thing I can try to do is win some races. Apparently what wins on Sunday sells on Monday - so that's my new motivation here."
