Yeah, let me chew on it. I’m mostly focused on some hot-takes on the models I find interesting, but a wrap-up would be good too.

Jensen, any chance we might a get post-EICMA state of the industry/breakdown of the OEMs? For example, seems like the MSRP’s for most of Ducati’s lineup ballooned by 20% overnight.

You raise an interesting thought with your last line. Perhaps a piece of KTM’s strategy is to make themselves too expensive to acquire?

Could the MV purchase be another F-U to Ducati by keeping alive a succubus/direct competitor to their ‘exotic Italian sport bike’ niche’?

edit
PS – great to see you still here, Jensen.

Absolutely with you on the Ducati… hoping for a 500cc Enduro myself.
Getting equally frustrated with the c*ck tease that is Triumph’s alleged MX/enduro offerings.

Pierer lost a big chunk of KTM to Bajaj… I suspect that each ‘Pierer mobility’ owned acquisition moves the power back closer to him. Potentially usurping or replacing KTM brand if it became necessary. Whilst Husky and Gas-Gas give critical mass to the off-road, there remains nothing comparative on the road side. Perhaps this motivation, along with rumours of MV moving into Asian markets with smaller cc models gives the road focused safety solution?

As to why others brands aren’t acquiring?
I think it is just the executive management/market cycle. They all have done so in living board/shareholder memories… to varying success levels.
Polaris, Indian, Victory had theirs a few years back and are now working to make it a success.
H-D tried…. and recoiled (ironically with MV), Alta and now committed to spinning off Livewire, downsizing and upping ‘premium’ value.
For the Japanese, Honda is the 800lb Gorilla. Self protection and politeness may be at play? Yamaha happily occupy their spot, Kawasaki has small acquisitions (Bimota) in a scale akin to their place in the hierarchy.
Suzuki… I think they have neither the funds nor the will. Perhaps they have given up. LOL.

Ducati could be the wild card… wouldn’t it be an upset if VW group acquired KTM…. :-)

Thought of several ways to respond, but I think the big thought I had today while typing my analysis for the A&R Pro readers was “why is no one else in the acquisition space in the moto industry?”

KTM seems to be the only one acquiring brands, and while I’m not sure they’re managing it properly, it does seem to largely work for them. Ducati needs a 450cc MX bike in its lineup, stat.