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

Two big questions are;
How much Italian will be left in new Husqvarnas? I think they will be more than Husbergs hopefully, but only time will tell. I could live with KTM engines, and maybe WP suspension, just hope it works better than it used to. That would leave Husky frames and styling, which could work out ok

If their goal is to grab share from the Japanese, that would almost have to mean Husqvarna would be the MX specific arm of KTM, and while that sounds exciting, most Husqvarna riders are trail and enduro. Reality check, can't make a lot of money selling to 50 year olds that just want to be different. There will be more kids riding Husqvarna MX bikes and we will be trying to figure out how to make them work in the woods!

This pretty much sums up how I'm thinking too.

To give some people a bit more comfort (from Facebook):

Husqvarna Motorcycles Hello Jozef and Craig. Just to bring your concerns a bit down: The engine of the TR650 is build by Loncin and the 900cc engine of the Nudas is build by Rotax. Husqvarna and BMW just use the same suppliers.

I agree, I believe they have a grand plan and will reveal it as they have the pieces in place. I was only trying to dissect from the info they have leaked. It depends on how deep they dig the roots, originally it was Edison Dye that introduced motocross and Husqvarna to the US. Or they may be looking at the roots of the '80's when the woods were full of white Huskies. I don't see the logic yet either, but I think things will start forming a direction at the relaunch in november.

I am sure they are built under licence from BMW. BMW owns the intellectual property of those motors. They just farm out the production of them. SP made it very clear there will be no twin cylinder motorcycles (Nuda) from the new Husqvarna. The 650 might live on (maybe) in some form, but there is absolutely no question that the NUDA is GONE.

The thought that the engine on my 2012 TE310 may have been made by a company renowned for making terrible Briggs & Stratton knockoffs (Loncin) makes me sick.

...hmmm,thought I 'd pop my head in since I said I would stay away from this topic for awhile...my gut feeling is not good still..I am still sticking to my personal feelings and hope Stefan breaks away from KTM and does what needs done to make Husky the marque it so well deserves to be..I am the older generation Husky and I am more then 75% woods rider...but I will make a mx Husky a woods bike if needed...I guess I'll come back later ..time to get on my TC 250 AND HIT THE WOODS!

In retrospect it might be possible that I may have been one of the few people that had a clue what was going on. The cafehusky server started having issues much earlier in the year (long before the Terra was discussed) because of an inordinent (sp?) amount of traffic. Thought it was search engines (nope), more members (not really), someone trying to break in (nope), just a bunch of humans visiting. I could *not* figure out why though - so now we all know.[/quote]

Can I say "I told you so" The attitude on this forum compared to the KTM forum was one of the reasons I went with a new Husky ... In this day and age this forum ads to the brand value.

I was going to start a "What I'd like from "New Husky" thread" but just wanted to ad something not in the previous 44 pages: If Husky comes out with a competitive MX bike next year please do whatever is necessary to put Andrew Short on it ... that kid is doing amazing things with a nearly stock Honda which just proves that he can take any good bike and put it up front without a ton of testing. Heck, hire his whole team (which I think is just a couple of people).

Can I say "I told you so" The attitude on this forum compared to the KTM forum was one of the reasons I went with a new Husky ... In this day and age this forum ads to the brand value.

I was going to start a "What I'd like from "New Husky" thread" but just wanted to ad something not in the previous 44 pages: If Husky comes out with a competitive MX bike next year please do whatever is necessary to put Andrew Short on it ... that kid is doing amazing things with a nearly stock Honda which just proves that he can take any good bike and put it up front without a ton of testing. Heck, hire his whole team (which I think is just a couple of people).[/quote]
I agree 100% with you on the attitude thing. Cafe Husky members have almost always been very polite and friendly. When the rumors of the sale first appeared I ventured back over to KTM Talk and was reminded about their supreme being attitude and just plain hatefulness. I liked my KTM, but not as much as my Husqvarnas, it's some of the KTM riders that are hard for me to take.

I love Andrew Short, what a great guy and good rider, but I just don't see him on the podium on a consistent basis no matter what bike he is on.

I think the quote function gadget is messed up! Or I did it wrong....

Built by and 'owned by' are two different things. BMW participated in the f800 parallel twin engine design with Rotax and the 900 is essentially a bored out and tweaked version of that.

Unfortunately, I agree with your assessment.

Don't know why you're thinking that. Nothing could be further from the truth. The X-Lite has NO BMW/Taiwan/Korea/China connection.

Well I got a reply back from Cross AG:
Dear Mr. Centeno,

Thank you again for your interest in our press release.

Due to the fact that the acquisition of Husqvarna is still subject to the approval of the Austrian antitrust authority, unfortunately we are not able to give any interview before.

We kindly ask for your understanding and look forward if you contact us again after the decision of the Autority.

Best regards.

Jutta Heftberger

CROSS Industries AG

Hey at least they took the time to answer .

I love Andrew Short, what a great guy and good rider, but I just don't see him on the podium on a consistent basis no matter what bike he is on.[/quote]

I agree but ... Husky is a small player looking to get noticed and a guy like Short who seems to be able to put an almost stock MX bike in the top 10 ... if the bike comes out in the fall with little time for extensive testing with an expensive team and rider why not look for a guy who can get you noticed cheap? And then BRAG that he's riding a basically stock bike.

I agree but ... Husky is a small player looking to get noticed and a guy like Short who seems to be able to put an almost stock MX bike in the top 10 ... if the bike comes out in the fall with little time for extensive testing with an expensive team and rider why not look for a guy who can get you noticed cheap? And then BRAG that he's riding a basically stock bike.[/quote]

Stock Honda and getting consistent 6th thru 9th O/A in the main.
6 races so far.....got into main all of them and 3 6th's, 1 7th, and 2 9th's.
Personable guy
Always positive.
Husky MX in SX getting a top 10 all the time is equivilent to on the box every week if you ask me and will sell bikes as it will make public more aware of these fine machines

Hire now for outdoor season (where he performs better than SX (no slouch in SX by any means)

Joe

Exactly on the Nuda. Never was here. Never was coming either.

I am hearing that Husky will be an MX company. Berg will be enduro and KTM will sell a bit of everything and increase their street presence.