International Dealer News IDN 139 October/November 2017 | Page 48

news ROOM
NEWS
BRIEFS
German motorcycle industry
magazine Bike & Business will stage
its annual industry conference and
awards at its Würzburg headquarters
on 23 November.
It has emerged that while
serious bids were indeed
received for the sale of Ducati,
the powerful German unions,
who account for half of the
seats on owner Volkswagen’s
advisory board, were united in
opposition to the sale. Bajaj
Auto and the Italian Benneton
investment fund were believed
to have been favourites to win
the bidding war for Ducati, with
some reports suggesting that
Royal Enfield owner Eicher
Motors increased its initial par
bid of € 1.5m to some € 2m.
Slated for January 14 – 16 at
Stoneleigh Park, near Coventry in the
UK, Motorcycle Trade Expo 2018
reports that over 90 percent of
available booth space was already
sold by the end of September.
Premier Helmets is the latest to
be hit by counterfeiters, with a
fake helmet site using cloned
images of Italian vendor PMR’s
genuine Premier brand helmets.
The company points out that
unless the website is clearly
loading as www.premier.it ,
then it is not their genuine,
official site.
Dutch apparel manufacturer Rev’It!
and Italian accessory designer
Rizoma have joined forces, with
Rev’It! USA taking over exclusive
rights to distribute the Italian hard
parts brand’s products in the United
States and Canada from the Rev’It!
USA headquarters at Brooklyn.
48
KTM: “Strong growth
in first six months”
KTM Industries AG, the parent
company of KTM, Husqvarna and WP
Suspension, has reported revenues of
€ 758.8 m for the first six months of
2017, +12 percent on the first half of
2016.
With a record 110,518 units for the
period, motorcycle sales were + 11
percent over the first half of 2017 –
“further strengthening our position as
Europe’s largest motorcycle
producer.”
The company says that after taking
into account the budgeted costs of
starting up their drivetrain production
plant, the operating earnings (EBIT) of
the first half 2017 are above the
budget expectations and with € 65.8
m slightly below the previous year’s
figure of € 69.6 m (-5%). The EBITDA
is € 105.8 m and above the figures of
the previous year.
“In the first half year 2017 the
investment programme at the
Austrian sites was continued,” the
company says. “The sustainably high
investments into the serial production
development represent an essential
success factor for the present and
future success of the KTM Industries
Group. Due to the strong production
growth, an additional 417 employees
were hired in the first half of 2017;
401 of them based in Austria.”
For the second half of 2017, the
company expects a “continuing
positive growth trend like in the first
half year. In the 2017 financial year,
the KTM Industries Group consistently
focuses on organic growth in its core
areas through further expansion of its
market shares and global growth. The
further development of cooperative
technology projects and more
intensive utilisation of synergy
potentials will be driven forward
within the Group divisions.”
The Management Board expects
consolidated revenues of over € 1.5
bn and operating EBIT of over € 130
m for the 2017 full financial year.
KTM SIGN DEAL
WITH CF MOTO
As this edition of IDN went to press
it had been announced that KTM
has agreed a development and
production deal to further expand
the KTM brand's presence in the
domestic Chinese market with
long-term partner CF Moto - the
deal is a 49% KTM owned, 51% CF
Moto owned joint venture
Triumph in Bajaj deal
In a joint statement in August,
Triumph CEO Nick Bloor and Bajaj
Auto Managing Director Rajiv
Bajaj announced a non-equity
global partnership to develop
and sell a range of mid-capacity
motorcycles.
The statement says “we hope to
bring to bear upon global
markets the individual strengths
of the partners including brand
position and perception, design
and development technology,
quality and cost competitiveness,
and worldwide distribution.
“This new global partnership will
enable Triumph to significantly
expand its global reach by
entering new higher volume
market segments, especially in
emerging markets across the
INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017
world.
“Bajaj will gain access to the
iconic Triumph brand, enabling it
to offer a wider range within its
domestic and other international
markets.
“Triumph and Bajaj are excited
by the opportunities of this
partnership and the prospect of
entering new market segments.”
The news came just weeks after
Bajaj, which owns 47.96 percent
of KTM, announced a partnership
with the Austrian manufacturer
to take the Husqvarna brand
global. Bajaj were also one of the
leading contenders to buy Ducati.
Triumph currently builds around
65,000 motorcycles a year at its
Hinckley, UK factory, employing
around 2,000 people and selling
through 700 dealers.
Founded in 1944 the Bajaj Group
traces its origins to 1926. In
2015, Bajaj had a market
capitalisation of around US$10
billion. It employs around 8,000
people and is the world's sixth
largest manufacturer of
motorcycles, the second largest
in India, and the largest exporter
of the Indian two-wheeler giants.
Bajaj and Kaw asaki ended a 33-
year alliance in India in April this
year – a move widely interpreted
as signalling Rajiv Bajaj’s
international as well as domestic
ambitions.