The cost-cutting continues for KTM's new owner Bajaj: Felt Bicycles sold
Completing a decision taken earlier this year, Bajaj continues to streamline its business with the sale of Felt Bicycles.
There was once a time, not too long ago, when KTM seemed like the motorcycle brand that truly did it all. Road, off-road and race bikes, cars (via the X-Bow brand), and conventional and electric bicycles. It was also linked to a couple of bicycle-specific brands, via Pierer Mobility (PMG), in the form of Felt and Raymon - the latter of which has already been offloaded.
We’ve also already seen the X-Bow car brand fall by the wayside, sold to the De Mevius family, which also owns the beer group InBev. Now, the latest victim of cost-cutting is the final PMG-owned e-bicycle brand, Felt.
Although it may be the latest, it's certainly no surprise to see Bajaj cutting ties with the pedal-powered world. Bajaj has been quite vocal about its group needing to focus on its core business of building bikes, with its CEO doubling down on that sentiment by going on to claim that “European manufacturing is dead” in a recent interview.
Felt now holds the dubious title of being one of the most sold bicycle brands on the planet, having now changed hands twice in four years and four times in the last eight years. But the people at the helm of the brand are not exactly new to the job, as, per Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, the current owners are a consortium led by the current management team and its shareholders, Florian Burguet and Cesar Rojo.
Felt was founded by Jim Felt in California in the 90s and then sold to the Rossignol Group in 2017. In 2021, KTM’s then-owner Pierer Mobility took control of the brand, in an apparent move to expand the brand’s presence in North America. The new owners of Felt will now control Felt's global trademarks and both of its global operations, one in North America and one in Spain.
The latest round of streamlining comes amid uncertainty around KTM’s multiple racing operations, with its MotoGP team also seemingly hanging in the balance. Reports suggest that it has put a price on its racing operation in the top class, and while rumours have linked CFMoto to taking over its operations, confirmation of that hasn’t happened.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
