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

http://www.vgc.com.cn/cds/?menu_uid=549

You don't see the Duke 200 here, so I wouldn't worry about Indian made Huskies going anywhere but India and probably Asia.

All the talk about Husky's (for our market) being made in India reminds me of something I saw about Chinese manufacturing.
Mercedes Benz, BMW, Chrysler and pretty much all other "premium" car brands manufacture their cars in China for the Chinese market, that's it.
for the rest of the world they manufacture in there respective home countries.

I don't think we will have much to worry about seeing Made in India on Husky's in the future. At least In most of our countries.

The word that I am hearing is that the Husqvarna factory is tentatively sold to MV Agusta as soon as the EU anti trust people approve the sale.

They keep bringing up the VW/Audi/etc business model - are any of those in emerging markets?[/quote]

I work in the auto business ... there are some recent articles out there about VW being the 1st manufacturer to "gamble" big time on global platforms built with "common" building blocks ... it's a bit like using legos to build different products - the same building blocks arranged in different ways. It makes sense and results in dramatically fewer unique parts and lower parts costs. VW expects this to radically increase their profitabilty.

In the automotive world most manufacturers prefer to produce vehicles in the country where they are going to be sold to limit the affects of currency value fluctuations. (currently the US dollar is not performing very well atainst the Japanese yen so vehicles made in Japan cost much more to produce - therefore limiting profitability if sold in the US) I have heard (but not verified) that all Honda motorcycles are now made in Japan ... and that Honda motorcycles were only profitable for the past 5 years because of their presence in "emerging" markets.

Draw your own conclusions what this all means

So, does that mean we go back in time two years, except the bikes are Husky bikes skinned as MV Agusta's?

They can do whatever they want for all I care. I´m a bit sick of 600cc bikes for urban use right now and have found that I´m much happier on a 250ccin urban conditions. Much faster and a lot more agile. And CCM have come out with a

If things go drastically wrong, we´re not obliged to stick with Husqvarna for the rest of our lives. Gas Gas and any number of others make very good bikes. I´ve found that I´m a lot happier on a 250cc than on my 630 in urban conditions. Much faster, niftyer and more agile. I´ve always liked CCM and now they´ve come up with a small E3 homologated moto.

Looks like an XR Honda to me!!

Yep it sure does

slightly different plastics but these bikes are here sold as CRF 230 and SL230

Both Honda
for town very good bikes for of road (from point a to b without fun factor very good)

For me very boring

Robert-Jan

rasputin said this is highly unlikely, as MV has updated the old factory for adequate production capacity, new more affordable bikes and improved quality. They have endured hard times, but are on the upswing. They possibly would have bought Husky back, but not just the new factory.

i was thinking dr200 then i looked up the honda,more honda than suzi

I have heard that the TE630 is to be returned to the Husky line up. The bike has a huge untapped market. As it is the competitors are the KLR and DR 650 , neither of which are much of a competitor. The Husky just needs a good dealer network and support for Canada.

And will come stock with a Power Commander, AutoTune, and a Leo Vince exhaust

It is different because when GM was doing it the people in "the know" called it badge engineering and said bad GM. Now that VW is doing it is is called innovation and maximizing economies of scale, good VW.

Read this article....

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-volks...inance.html;_ylt=Ao_k1AWSjjQ_7aoDGx4vodnQtDMD

No doubt. Any mystique over the Husqvarna brand IMO went away the moment they started slapping Husky stickers on Cagivas. Doesn't mean the resulting bike wasn't any good but at that point Husqvarna went from being a company that make motorcycles to a label to be slapped on somebody elses product. I like the old Huskys, and dig the current Italian Huskys. If they were junk I'd be looking at something else. Hopefully the KTM Huskys are cool also. I highly doubt they would release anything that is junk. If so there are plenty of good options like Beta, TM, Gas Gas, Sherco that actually have some brand cache in the niche dirtbike market.

True ... but my Husky 630 was a lemon when I first bought it, and it took some effort to get it right. I´d never expect not to have to customise a new bike. And it certainly wont be "boring" when I´ve finished. Quite apart from it being a CCM ... with a heritage, made by people who design bikes that can genuinely go around corners like a butcher´s dog