Stefan Pierer on KTM's future plans for India

KTM CEO Stefan Pierer gave CNBC-TV18 a freewheeling interview which touched upon many aspects of KTM, KTM in India, KTM's relationship with Bajaj as well as the company's outlook on the international two-wheeler market situation. Here are the top things Pierer said during the interview.

KTM will have an aggressive launch plan in India

Pierer is quite thrilled with the response the KTM 200 Duke has received in India. And he believes clearly that more models both in terms of other displacements as well as in terms of other formats or roles will help the brand expand into the country. To this end, KTM will focus not only on offering more excitement, but also on maintaining the clarity of brand in the customers' minds. What that means is that, just like the Duke 200 has turned out to be a rapid, frantic, thrilling sort of the motorcycle, that kind of the character will be clearly evident in all forthcoming KTMs. Pierer clearly mentions that having the best engine performance in class is one of the key elements in this exercise, so expect powerful motors from the orange brand.

Did KTM-Bajaj lead to the TVS-BMW talks?

Pierer believes that the success of the KTM-Bajaj tie-up will inevitably lead to other companies thinking about achieving similar competitive advantages so naturally it would look like a good idea to other companies. To wit, he says the talks between TVS and BMW are well-known and everyone is looking forward to seeing them reach a conclusion. TVS had earlier told OVERDRIVE that the talks were on but still far from the point where concrete directions or arrangements were being discussed. We expect an announcement from the Hosur, Tamil Nadu based company to come only around mid-2013. Pierer also cautioned that the KTM-Bajaj tie-up has natural synergies because the brands share a lot of things but the TVS-BMW tie-up will be harder work because it's a small company tying up with a large manufacturer.

The plans for next year

Pierer says KTM will launch a new model more or less every six months, and push sales from the 9000-odd expected this year (March-December to about 35,000 for 2013. This is a huge jump and the Pierer has hinted at the products that will aim to hit this target including the KTM Duke 180/190, a Duke 200-based second model and the Duke 390 which is to be a fully faired model, with a second touring-oriented model also being mentioned.

See our separate stories on the new KTMs.

Read about the KTM 200 Duke's alternate models here

Read about the KTM 390 Duke's faired version here

Read Shumi's opinion about the upcoming 180 Duke

Read all about KTM's future plans for India here

Read all of Stefan's interview here