Motorcycle manufacturer

What is currently slowing KTM down and making jobs shaky

At the end of the previous year, the number of employees at Pierer Mobility was just under 6,200 - now it's time to cut back.(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

The reduction of up to 300 employees in Mattighofen and Munderfing was planned for this year. Now it could be significantly more who have to leave the Innviertel-based motorcycle manufacturer KTM. What are the reasons for this and when will there be clarity? We asked Pierer Mobility board member Viktor Sigl.

First there was talk of up to 300 employees having to leave Mattighofen and Munderfing this year due to relocations to sites in India and China; then owner Stefan Pierer recently spoke of up to 500 employees being affected ...

Cost reduction program will be "intensively continued"
Although Pierer Mobility AG (KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, MV Agusta) achieved a profit before interest and taxes of 160 million euros on sales of 2.66 billion euros in the previous year, the management of the motorcycle and e-bike manufacturer has put together a cost reduction program that will be "intensively continued" this year, as was recently announced.

The stuttering demand in the USA is giving KTM a hard time, reveals Viktor Sigl.(Bild: Daniel Scharinger, Markus Wenzel, Krone KREATIV)

But how much will the cost-cutting pencil be applied to personnel? CEO Viktor Sigl explains that "only" a reduction of 300 employees in production and development is currently fixed.

Clarity in the summer
"We will see how the market develops by the end of the first half of the year," says the manager. It will then be clear whether the brakes will have to be put on again in motorcycle assembly and related areas, as a further 100 to 150 employees could be affected.

In the USA, motorcycles are bought on credit or with leasing
Incidentally, what is causing KTM so much trouble is above all the stuttering demand in the USA: "Here, most motorcycles are bought on credit or leased. The high interest rates are now having an impact."