Bajaj Auto and KTM to take Husqvarna brand globally!

In their tenth year of strategic partnership, Bajaj Auto and KTM motorcycles have decided to take the Husqvarna brand globally from Bajaj’s Chakan plant.

Bajaj Auto, Pune based two wheeler manufacturer and KTM, one of the biggest two-wheeler manufacturers from Europe, based out of Austria are into their tenth year of strategic partnership this year.With this, KTM bikes complete a decade of presence in the Indian market fuelled by its partnership with Bajaj Auto.

KTM’s product lines such as Duke 125, Duke 390 and RC 125 and RC 390 are produced in Bajaj’s plant at Chakan and are distributed by the two partners globally. Now, KTM and Bajaj have decided to take the Husqvarna Motorcycles brand in a big way, globally!

Husqvarna motorcycles, founded in 1903, is one of the oldest two-wheeler brands in the world, the long term licence for which had been secured by KTM motorcycles in 2013. In fact, after getting into the hands of KTM and with the brand’s repositioning, the volumes of the Husqvarna brand has gone up to an all-time high, with 30,000 units sold in 2016.

Now, Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM AG and Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of BAJAJ Auto Ltd decided on the strategy to take Husqvarna Motorcycles brand global and scale up the business multiple times. The first models, Vitpilen 401, Svartpilen 401 and Vitpilen 701 will be produced in Mattighofen, Austria, and launched in early 2018. Later in 2018, the Vitpilen 401 and Svartpilen 401 production for the global markets will be transferred to Bajaj’s Chakan factory.

Also, both KTM and Bajaj have decided to increase the number of KTM and Husqvarna branded motorcycles produced in India from a predicted 1,00,000 units in 2017 to more than 2,00,000 units over the next few years. Bajaj clearly plans to sell the Husqvarna branded range of motorcycles at a similar volume level to that of KTM branded motorcycles in both India and Indonesia. The joint global products which are built at the Chakan plant are planned to exceed 100,000 units in 2017 and scale up to 2000,000 units in the next three years.