In the immortal words of Pepper Brooks from Dodgeball, "That's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if it pays off for him." And I'm speaking about Bajaj, the new owners of KTM, agreeing to keep Gottfried Neumeister as CEO of the Austrian manufacturer. Seemingly until at least 2028, to boot.
Honestly, it's odd. Neumeister's tenure has been...brief at KTM, as he was installed late in the financial meltdown, as Stefan Pierer, the former CEO and owner of the KTM Group, stepped away into a shadow CEO role to get some of the limelight off himself. But for most outsiders, the way that everything boiled down was that Pierer was still the puppet master behind the curtains.
Neumeister was just the face.
And while in recent months, Neumeister has offered up what his vision is for the future of the Austrian manufacturer, it wasn't really clear whether Bajaj would even let him decide what the future actually was, as Bajaj has remained remarkably mum about what the company intends to do with KTM. Hell, we're still unsure whether KTM will remain in MotoGP come 2027. But Neumeister's reappointment is an interesting one, and one that'll be fascinating to watch play out.
Why? Because he's now on his own. At least, that's what it looks like.
"I greatly appreciate the trust placed in me," starts Neumeister's statement on his CEO extension, adding, "Together with my new colleagues on the Executive Board, I would like to put KTM back on a clear growth path and thus strengthen the trust of our partners, customers, dealers and suppliers in the long term. The task now is to successfully implement our strategy of simplifying processes and focusing on the motorcycle market."
That's a tall order to accomplish, as in recent months, suppliers have been reticent to offer KTM lines of credit due to outstanding bills, dealers have roiled at KTM's MSRPs and inventory requirements, and most of all, customers haven't flocked to the brand as it once did as prices have skyrocketed for the Austrian-built models. The only good news has been the surge in sales for the brand's Bajaj-built 390s, but that's hardly a good look for KTM as a whole. And even its celebration of 100,000 motorcycles sold earlier this year was marked with asterisks that KTM likely wouldn't want folks to scrutinize all that much.
We did, and yeah, it ain't good.
Speaking on Neumeister's extension, Srinivasan Ravikumar, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Pierer Mobility AG, which will soon become Bajaj Mobility AG, said, "Gottfried Neumeister took on responsibility during a very difficult phase, resolutely faced the challenges and achieved extraordinary results. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to stabilising KTM and setting the course for the future."
I'm guessing that these next few months and year will be hugely important to Neumeister's tenure at the company, as he still has a hurricane to weather. Sales are down. Inventory is still high. New manufacturing has been off and on, with folks that are looking for new motorcycles not being able to get them. There's still the whole MotoGP question—and it possibly losing Red Bull as its title sponsor—as well as what other series' will KTM support. And reestablishing good relations with parts manufacturers that the previous administration screwed over by not paying them. There's also the question of where manufacturing will take place, as rumors point to KTM moving overseas to India and out of Mattighofen.
So, again, let's see if it pays off for them.
