This probably won't come as a major surprise to anyone who's been paying attention; in fact, many might even say that it was only a matter of time. Nevertheless, the moment is finally upon us. KTM has told several Austrian publications that it's shutting down production of GasGas motorcycles at its Girona factory in Spain, and will be moving production to the main KTM plant in Mattighofen, Austria instead.
The reasons that KTM gives for this move include optimization of existing processes, bringing all the expertise under one roof, and of course increasing operational efficiencies. Since many Husqvarna-branded motorcycles are also already built in Mattighofen, this probably doesn't come as that great a surprise.
What will this mean for workers, both at the GasGas Factory in Spain and at the KTM factory in Mattighofen? According to KTM, this news doesn't mean that it will be shutting down the Girona facility entirely. Instead, it says that only motorcycle production will move to Austria, and that the remainder of GasGas operations will remain in place in Girona. This will mean that 20 people who formerly worked on the production line will now be out of a job.
Does this mean that KTM plans to hire more workers on the line at its Mattighofen and Munderfing factories? No. Instead, while production of the GasGas bikes is moving there, the plan from the powers that be is to keep the existing production staff numbers as they are. They'll just have more work to do now.
It's unclear what this will mean for the future of the three motorcycle brands under the KTM umbrella, particularly as majority stakeholder Rajiv Bajaj has recently said things like, and I quote directly, "European manufacturing is dead."
Is this the calm before the storm, or is it something else? That's unclear at this point, but we'll be sure to keep you up to date here at RideApart.
