Motorsport brand backed by Red Bull facing bankruptcy weeks after world championship title

A leading motorsport brand is on the brink of bankruptcy - just weeks after celebrating a world championship win.

Pierer Mobility Group, who own motorcycle brand KTM, have announced that the firm is facing a period of “voluntary restructuring” after weeks of speculation - with a statement from the group saying their financial requirements, “currently amount to a high three-digit million figure” and that they face a “reduction in operating performance totalling of over €1 billion in the years 2025 and 2026.”

The firm currently run two factory supported MotoGP teams, with seven teams using KTM machinery in the Moto3 class - including world champions Aspar, who lifted the lightweight world championship title with David Alonso on a CFMoto branded bike. Chinese firm CFMoto previously announced a partnership with Pierer, who also own brands including GasGas, Husqvarna and a large stake in MV Agusta.

In recent weeks KTM announced that they would be laying off more than 300 employees, whilst production of new bikes is set to cease in January and February in an attempt to save costs. However Pierer Group bosses will now apply for insolvency, with the KTM brand being detached from the rest of the company in a bid to save it.

The firm are heavily backed by Red Bull in MotoGP and have made use of the wind tunnel where Max Verstappen’s championship winning F1 car was designed. They have grown from a small firm of 160 employees and a production volume of 6,000 units in 1992 to making more than 6,000 motorcycles a day, but production is set to be frozen until at least March - with the firm saying that sales in Europe and the USA have fallen below expectation.

It leaves factory riders Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta, as well as satellite