"KTM is saved!", many outlets proclaimed a few short weeks ago when the Austrian insolvency courts stated that the company, its debtors, and its shareholders had come to an agreement on how to move forward after basically declaring bankruptcy last year. They were saved! Production is set to resume. And the company's beleaguered CEO, the man who made many of the financially bad decisions, was out.
But so many pundits, commenters, and folks outside the industry saw this as a win for the manufacturer. And, by and large, it is. But there were caveats to that win. KTM still had to pay a lot of money to its creditors. It had to excise the demon that is its year's worth of inventory sitting on pissed-off dealerships' lots. It needed to figure out what the hell it was going to do with all its racing teams—the answer seemingly being it would be cutting, as well as ending all funding to any championship it was previously involved in.
