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KTM Era: How a Small Metal Workshop Turned into a Huge Automaker

Modified On Mar 2, 2016 By Gajraj Singh Bhati

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Each motorcycle manufacturer has a lot of stories to tell behind the formation of the huge setups. Most of them have interesting facts about their history while some of them even have been involved in various controversies. If we talk about international manufacturers, there are also some giants who have made it big with their new innovations, stylings, designs etc. KTM, being one of the leading automakers has offered numerous products to the Indian market and has done a lot to earn a distinct recognition for its brand. Let’s learn a bit more about its formation, controversies and the final creation of this Austrian company.

 Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz, was the initially the name of KTM when the company was established in 1934 and was founded by Hans Trunkenpolz as a metalworking shop. Later, when the sales went down, there came a time when the owners decided to manufacturer motorcycles. The company worked solely on this idea for two years and an after that a huge share of this company was bought by an Austrian businessman Ernst Kronreif, and this led to the change of the existing name to KTM or “Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen”. Starting with only 20 employees after the formation of KTM, the company developed only three bikes per day from which one is the historical 98cc R100. The company also participated in Gaisberg Competition motorsports events in 1953 and managed to secure all the first three spots. Within just one year of this success, KTM celebrated the delivery of 1000th motorcycle and won Austrian 125 National Championship.

Then winning became a habit for this Austrian company as two years later KTM participated in the International six days race with Egon Dornauer as the rider and he went on to win the gold medal in the championship. Few years later, in 1959, the engineers of the company developed a racing motorcycle that won many off-road racing's and in 1964 KTM started to manufacture bicycles. KTM also faced a massive bankruptcy but managed to recover quickly as with time the company started to win many important races which greatly helped the company to win more customers for its products. After 1970’s fortune of the company changed dramatically, as the automaker won the first world championship and the first Grand Prix win was also registered in the same year. Buoyed by the good run, by 1974 KTM had a strong portfolio of over 42 models.

The company emerged as a prominent name in 1980’s after introducing the first water cooled 125cc Motocross bike and a year later they introduced these motocross machines with Pro Level rear suspension. In 1984, KTM started making radiators and sold it to its competitors, Suzuki was one of the major buyers of the company. In the meantime, this Austrian giant was continuously making several motorcycle parts that were followed with a celebration of its 1,00,000th KTM engine, which was a 500cc motor producing more than 50 bhp. The company started producing 4-stroke liquid cooled engine started after 1987, but during that time, KTM faced a loss (morally) as one of its founder Eric Trunkenpolz died. Two years later, the company became the victim of bankruptcy, and led to a divide of the organisation into two independent divisions. One worked only on manufacturing radiators and other worked on developing motorcycles.

Finally, in 1992, KTM Sportmotorcycle was formed, which focused on whole new designs, new hard Enduro and worked with a totally new management team. In November 2007, Bajaj Auto Limited of India acquired 14.5% stake in KTM Power Sports AG and increased their shareholding to 47% by 2012. Presently the company manufacturers 4 products for the Indian market namely Duke 200 & 390, RC 200 & 390. As per claims, this manufacturer dominates the current scenario of the premium motorcycling industry in India and with a growing neck to neck competitions, KTM motorcycles are considered as the fastest Indian machines on the streets.

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