The extremely bleak future of the traditional motorcycle manufacturer KTM, or rather its parent company Pierer Mobility, is currently a constant topic in the Austrian media. The company has today filed for insolvency and wants to restructure in order to avoid going under. November wages have already not been paid and it is unclear when employees will next receive money in their accounts.

The e-bike division, which includes the Husqvarna, GasGas, Felt and MV Agusta brands, is also affected. Like so many bike brands, these are suffering from overstocking. In order to relieve stock levels and thus reduce costs, Pierer Mobility has started to give e-bikes to employees - apparently also to those in the motorcycle division.

According to various media reports, Pierer has given away a total of 11,000 e-bikes since summer 2023. This was apparently on the condition that they were to be used and not sold. Nevertheless, some of them appeared on second-hand platforms shortly afterwards. Other Pierer employees had disposed of their old e-bikes as they now had a new one, as Chip.de reported.

The bike brand KTM, on the other hand, has nothing to do with the motorcycle manufacturer's crisis. The KTM Fahrrad GmbH divested itself of the motorized division in 1992. However, the bad news about the motorcycle manufacturer is also affecting the bike manufacturer, which is why it announced in a media release that it is financially healthy and has nothing to do with the negative news about KTM's bike division.