KTM/Husqvarna... now how will this play out?

For me -- the worldwide street oriented KTM/Husky stuff isn't all that relevant. It does offer a glimpse into the potential mindset of the new owners. The only thing that I took away from the article was that Husky is positioned ABOVE KTM. I thought that was interesting.

In the end, I will wait anxiously for news and pictures of the 2014 or 2015 bikes. That's where the rubber will meet the dirt [so to speak].

I am more interested in the celeb boobs than a 200cc Indian bike.

Nuda R aint nothing like a V-Strom!!!

Nuda's may have the 800R powerplant but this bike was squarely aimed at the Monster/SM market...it's only recently that BMW released a 'touring' which is really a bunch of panniers bolted to the side...the small fuel tank makes it crap against the V-Strom...but put the Nuda in tight, twisty corners and it's a sweet handling bike.

Great...Husqvarna maybe the new Royal Enfield of the 21st century

Ive assembled a Royal Enfield out of the crate and let me tell you, they would have to do some serious reverse engineering and replace most of the components with old junk parts from 50 years ago and assemble them...i mean slap them together with junk grease and flecks of dirt and sand.
Theres no way they could take a Husky down to that level.

That streeter stuff from a dirt bike company is an attempt at growth IMHO ... For some reason, companies must show growth ... Sell 1MIL bikes this QTR and next QTR sell 9999 and not only did you not have any growth but sells are down also ... Gives the stock market a reason to move up or down on a specific company ...

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2014 bikes? So again, we wait for a new dirt bike from a new owner and this one will be a SP diamond I predict ... It'll take alot to be better than the current 250/310 models ... These bikes really just need some polishing ... and 2 more horses ...make that 3 more ponies ...

Boys-
A prior posting on an Indian based news release indicates that about 75% of KTM vehicle sales in a recent period were of 200cc bikes in India. The uber sophisticated hi dollar rigs we see in these United States may just be pond scum.
anselmo

Maybe they will call them Hinduvarnas.

How does that make sense? The Fox is surely there now then! It won't be KTM doing major distribution - that would kill KTMs ability to move their product. Go back and read where SP wants to keep it separate (as much as that makes sense) Thus, Logistics is maintained. Oh, I think there will be shared resources - everybody does that now. Look at Rotax, WP, Showa, KYB, SACHS , Countless others. You see engineering, components, everything - on everything - its a World market.
I guarantee that Bajaj had little to invest here - that's not the way they operate. Doesn't mean that is the way they will "Spin-it". Opportunist, IMHO. From the logic of it all KTM did not need to buy Husqvarna nor does it really need anything from it at all. Actually it's kind of a burden if yo look at it. SP is got something else up his sleeve.

Just some thoughts...

If the intent is to complete with the Japanese bikes, you have to compete mostly on price. In fact, to start to gain market share you have to sell at a lower price. And if Yamaha is manufacturing in Chennai and is moving KYB production there, you may have little choice but to manufacture or assemble in India to compete.
Basically, you design and prototype in Austria, source your parts from all over, (engines from Taiwan, etc.) and assemble in India. Not much different from how Apple builds iPhones.

BMW got things going in that direction and they invested a lot of money, but dirt bikes aren't their core.
The new owners seem to have things setup to make the next move to lower costs even more.
At the end of the day, they need to sell more Huskys. 10,000 a year is not enough to pay off the investment.

India is a huge market but price sensitive market. I would guess you can't sell a lot of Austrian built KTMs over there. Most of the bikes used over there are low cost, small cc, air cooled 4-stroke or 2-stroke bikes and scooters. Easy to work on and cheap available parts. They're used to carry 3-4 people at a time! Anyone who's been over there has seen the crazy traffic and lousy roads. It would take a low cost bike built for that market to compete. When Ford went into India they had to design small cars just for India, heavy duty shocks, good horn!, and easier to maintain.

I would say that any decent bike selling for less than $8,500 msrp can't be built in the U.S. or Europe anymore. At least not for long.
Pardon my ramblings...
Dave

You may be right about this -
Then again in a few years they may be the only one who can afford a +8500.00 bike!
look at Peking, China, used to be nothing but Bicycles - now its Mercedes, BMWs, Lexus, Cadillacs.
Monetary entropy.

So, I take it it's a new thing that Husky parts can now be found on KTM-PARTS.COM ?

http://www.ktm-parts.com/search.html?q=husqvarna&x=0&y=0

Even including complete bikes: http://www.ktm-parts.com/13WR300.html#.URNE4x19p8E

Maybe SP does not like this direction or the guy who wrote it ...

Why is SP and HIS company lumped in with bajaj at every turn here?

EDIT: After reading some posts here and there, I can understand all the confusion on what is or is not happening here ...

This is the current distribution channels at work if this is new ... Business apparently and these guys are not messing around ....

I wonder if that's a way to blow out all the BMW era bikes to make room for KTM designed Hukys?

(edit) my bad, that KTM site is extremely inclusive. It even lists many after-market items. Very much like any online store front.