It looks like KTM's insatiable hunger for acquiring new brands may have found its next victim, with KTM taking a 25.1% stake in Italian brand MV Agusta.
While by no means a controlling stake in the company, this comes off the back of news that KTM is now in charge of distributing the Italian brand within the North American market as well as taking on the distribution of CFMOTO in some European markets as well.
KTM, or more to the point its parent company Pierer Mobility AG, currently owns the KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas brands, and has partnerships with CFMOTO in China and Bajaj Auto in India.
In the case of MV Agusta, the strategic partnership between the two European motorcycle manufacturers will see KTM AG provide MV Agusta with supply chain support and take over the purchasing.
Whether this partnership will see MV Agusta eventually be distributed in our part of the world by KTM is yet to be seen, but Pierer Mobility (KTM’s parent company) noted in its release that in the course of this cooperation, MV Agusta will partly distribute its product range via PIERER Mobility’s worldwide distribution network.
KTM recently announced it will be responsible for the distribution of CFMOTO in five key European markets including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
"PIERER Mobility and CFMOTO have been in partnership for almost ten years. CFMOTO is our production and sales partner for KTM motorbikes in China, and in recent years it has expanded its capacities and supply chains to meet this need," says Hubert Trunkenpolz, Member of the Executive Board of PIERER Mobility. "It's also a logical development of our cooperation for us to handle and expand the distribution of CFMOTO motorcycles in selected European markets as a first step."