Here is a bit of a surprise, or maybe not really. It is well known that Stefan Pierer bought the Husqvarna brand from BMW and has kept it as a part of Stefan Pierer Holdings AG an entity which is legally distinct from KTM which is also held by Stefan Pierer (majority holding upto nearly 52% while the rest of the company is held by Bajaj Auto nearly 48%). Husqvarna which is originally a Swedish brand had an illustrious racing past that went back to the mid 1960s and later on it became more and more associated with dual purpose (on and off road) and off road machines as the brand went more and more into survival mode.
There has been a persistent rumour that Husqvarna will become a part of the KTM-Bajaj strategy to garner more sales and this rumour even suggests that made in India by Bajaj Husqvarnas could emerge as soon as 2015. While we do not know the veracity of this story what we do know is that Husqvarna is coming back to circuit racing with some of the KTM Moto3 racers (which have thus far been the flavour of the Moto3 field) being badged Husqvarna. Daniel Kent after a not so successful stint in Moto2 is returning in 2014 to the Moto3 category and had signed up with Aki Ajo’s Red Bull sponsored KTM team. Now this team will be called Red Bull Husqvarna Factory racing team and will feature Danny Kent. Apart from this Niklas Ajo, the son of Aki Ajo will also be a factory supported rider in the team which will be called the Avant Tecno Team. Pit Bierer will be the director of the factory effort as an employee of Husqvarna’s racing effort. We don’t yet know how the racer will finally look but it is not going to look like the bike in the picture below.
