#AlanCathcart

In January 2020 Norton Motorcycles, then owned and run by UK entrepreneur Stuart Garner, collapsed into bankruptcy, and on April 17 that same year was acquired from the liquidator for a cash payment of £16 million by India’s third largest motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor Company. Currently manufacturing more than three million powered two-wheelers annually at its Hosur factory outside Bengaluru, TVS has also been associated with German giant, BMW Motorrad since April 2013.

In the past six years since Royal Enfield launched its first 650cc twin-cylinder bikes of the modern era in the 2018 model year, the well-developed, well-built and well-priced Interceptor and Continental GT have catapulted the Indian manufacturer into a leading role in the global middleweight motorcycle market.

Aprilia’s measured but inexorable rise to the front of the MotoGP pack in recent months, with two victories in three races plus a Sprint race win, all inside the space of 30 days, has reaffirmed the Piaggio-owned brand’s sporting credentials at the highest level. [Unfortunately for them, this was the extent of Aprilia’s race wins for the year -TS] It’s also served as a parting testimony to the late Roberto Colaninno, Chairman/CEO of Piaggio who passed away on August 19, just days after his 80th birthday and a fortnight after Aleix Espargaró’s Silverstone race victory saw Aprilia turn the tables on its Ducati rivals.

In this second segment of Alan Cathcart's interview with Markus Schramm, the retiring BMW Motorrad chief executive officer discusses the company's approach to electric mobility, and why hydrogen power may not be the answer for motorcycles and scooters.

The year 2023 has seen BMW Motorrad celebrating its Centenary as a motorcycle manufacturer, while also for the first time in the company’s history breaking through the 200K barrier in terms of annual production entering its anniversary year. In 2022, BMW saw 202,895 motorcycles and scooters sold – an increase of 4.4% compared to 2021. Germany remained the company’s largest single market, with 24,129 motorcycles and scooters sold there, while France also registered record sales with 21,223 vehicles delivered, 6.7% up on 2022. North America was the German company’s third largest market, with an 11% increase to 20,295 units sold, helped again by a record number of bikes delivered, this time in the USA (17,690 units/+10.4%).

It’s pretty gratifying to discover a youthful British entrepreneur’s madcap gamble that he could find sufficient customers ready to stump up the steep price for his self-conceived, self-developed, self-manufactured and self-promoted series production motorcycle that’s unique in today’s marketplace, has paid off. Bingo!

It had been quite a while since I last rode a multi-cylinder KTM on a racetrack – all the way back to 2011 and the Red Bull-sponsored factory RC8R 1200cc V-twin on which Martin Bauer was victorious in that year’s IDM German Superbike Championship, with teammate Stefan Nebel third. That was a key moment in the Austrian dirtbike specialist’s climb up the ladder to equal status with the likes of Honda and Ducati in the road racing pantheon, and showed that orange was a color to be reckoned with on-road as well as off it.

It’s exactly ten years on since the born-again Brough Superior brand’s first all-new model, a modern take on the legendary SS100 launched 100 years ago this year as the world’s first street-legal Superbike, was unveiled at the 2013 EICMA Milan Show.

Alan Cathcart’s conversation with Stefan Pierer continues, as the PIERER Mobility president and chief executive officer discusses electrification and other future technologies. —ED.

Alan Cathcart’s conversation with Stefan Pierer continues, as the PIERER Mobility president and chief executive officer discusses his motorcycle brands (namely, KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas), and some of their competition. This includes MV Agusta, of which PIERER gained a stake in 2022. —ED.

As the Coronavirus pandemic gradually disappears in the rear view mirror of history, in its aftermath the global motorcycle industry continues to experience rapid and sustained growth. Leading this charge among European companies is the KTM Group, whose parent company PIERER Mobility AG finished 2022 on a continued high, after a 12th successive record year which saw sales of its three current brands KTM, Husqvarna, and GASGAS continue spiralling upwards to 375,452 motorcycles in 2022, an increase of 13% compared with the previous year’s 332,881 units. Of those, 268,575 of these motorcycles carried the KTM badge, 75,266 were Husqvarnas and 31,651 were GASGAS motorcycles, a sales volume of 375,492 motorcycles. Add to that the 118,465 pedal cycles and E-bicycles sold in the same period under its Husqvarna, GASGAS, Felt and R Raymon labels (up 15% compared to 2022’s 102,753 bikes), and the company’s overall revenues increased to EUR 2.437 billion in 2022, up 19% year-on-year.

Just over four years ago, Italian trophy marque Moto Morini narrowly avoided joining the many other defunct brands from all our two-wheeled yesterdays already deposited in motorcycling history’s trash bin. But in October 2018 Chen Huaneng, the owner of Chinese scooter and minimoto manufacturer Zhongneng Vehicle Group, saved it from extinction by acquiring 100% ownership of Moto Morini from the previous Italian owner.