M.R. Special: BMW buys Husqvarna

BMW buys Husqvarna - M.R. Special



This has been rumored for some time. MotorCycle News in the UK is reporting that BMW has purchased Husqvarna outright and will operate it as a separate business unit as it does with the Mini brand

reuters.com is also reporting on this in a more detailed piece.

Sweet, I've always wanted a chain saw with a boxer engine.

BMW PressClub: Germany Announcement

BMW motorcycle takes over Husqvarna Motorcycles

Munich. BMW acquires the steeped in tradition enterprise Husqvarna Motorcycles. Dr. Herbert Diess, leader BMW motorcycle and the Italian Industrielle Claudio Castiglioni signed to 19.07.2007 in the northItalian Varese the contract. This requires still the agreement of the European Kartellbeh?Ârde and comes into force only after permission. Over the purchase price silence was agreed upon.

For BMW motorcycle is easier the assumption of Husqvarna Motorcycles a consistent step for the continuation of the activities in the range and sporty motorcycles, which were recently strengthened with the new models BMW G 650 X series. ÔÇ£With the Husqvarna models aiming at the sporty competition we can expand the offer of BMW motorcycle faster since younger buyer categories as well as since the entire Offroad and Supermoto range than alone with our Kernmarke. We will have also direct access to a world-wide sales network work in the Offroad segment with this acquisitionÔÇØ, justified BMW motorcycle boss Diess the decision to the purchase. The planning of BMW motorcycle plans to resume Husqvarna Motorcycles independently. Development, selling and manufacturing as well as the coworker trunk transferred and as before in the northItalian region Varese to be resident.

Husqvarna Motorcycles belongs like BMW motorcycle to the most steeped in tradition motorcycle enterprises of the world. Motorcycles were produced since 1903 first in Sweden and since 1986 in Italy. The enterprise ranks today among the prominent offerers of sporty Offroad motorcycles. Countless international racer sequence with European and world champion titles accompany firm history.

BMW motorcycle produced and sold in 2006 for the first time over 100.000 motorcycles (production: 103,759 units, distribution 100,064 units). The production program covers excluding large volume motorcycles over 500 cm ??; in this segment BMW motorcycle is the largest European manufacturer. The conversion in the financial year 2006 amounted to 1,265 millions euro, the result before taxes 66 millions euro. BMW motorcycle busy 2006 of world-wide on the average 2,816 coworkers.

Husqvarna Motorcycles is part of the Italian mVs Agusta S.p.A. and produced 2006 of approximately 12,000 motorcycles within the capacity range between 125 and 610 cm ??. The emphasis of the model program lies on sporty Offroad motorcycles, which are equipped with a cylinder engines without exception. Husqvarna Motorcycles busy 2006 in Italy of approximately 240 coworkers.


German to English translation by Google Translator.

Some Husqvarna sites:

Husqvarna ÔÇôCompany

Husqvarna Motorcycles ÔÇô Husqvarna USA

Huskyclub.com

The Husqvarna motorcycle division was sold to Italian motorcycle manufacturer Cagiva in 1987.

Cagiva.it
No news from them yet.

Interesting. With BMW having produced their own 450 dirtbike (release soon), I wonder if we'll see them use the Husqy marque to fill out the remainder of the range.

I believe the smaller Huskies all have headlights, so building a set of smaller supermotos would be a breeze.

I like it.

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=11106]cyclenews.com is reporting from the MV Agusta/Cagiva side of the sale. The emphasis for MV is to focus on the MV Agusta brand, product development and expansion. This should give them a bit of cash to that end.

mcnews.com.au gives the view from down-under of the sale.

The Economic Times.indiatimes.com leads with a focuses on sales undisclosed sum and then follows with the observation that it is subject to the review of the European competition authorities.

Husqvarna Motorcycles belongs like BMW motorcycle to the most steeped in tradition motorcycle enterprises of the world. Motorcycles were produced since 1903 first in Sweden and since 1986 in Italy. The enterprise ranks today among the prominent offerers of sporty Offroad motorcycles. Countless international racer sequence with European and world champion titles accompany firm history.

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Aha, there was a Swedish connection. Wonder if a Boxer engine on a chainsaw will outperform a Stihl?

KBasa said:

I believe the smaller Huskies all have headlights, so building a set of smaller supermotos would be a breeze.

I like it.

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I wonder if 3yr warranties will be standard?

I want one sooo bad.

PAULBACH said:

Aha, there was a Swedish connection. Wonder if a Boxer engine on a chainsaw will outperform a Stihl?

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Good one cheif

The comparison of this to BMW's purchase of the Mini brand is one way to view this, but I wonder if it might not turn out more like BMW's purchase of Land Rover (which they ultimately sold for 1 pound sterling to get rid of it).

Does BMW really understand what Husky is about? Will it be more of a distraction to them than an asset? The motorcycle division has never done this sort of thing before.

PAULBACH said:

Wonder if a Boxer engine on a chainsaw will outperform a Stihl?

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No. Nothing outperforms a Stihl in the world of chainsaws (although Husqvarna comes in second). If BMW would have purchased Stihl it would have been a consolidation of my two hobbies. I have 5 Stihl chainsaws and one Beemer.

DarrylRi said:

The comparison of this to BMW's purchase of the Mini brand is one way to view this, but I wonder if it might not turn out more like BMW's purchase of Land Rover (which they ultimately sold for 1 pound sterling to get rid of it).

Does BMW really understand what Husky is about? Will it be more of a distraction to them than an asset? The motorcycle division has never done this sort of thing before.

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When I first heard this rumor, it was about BMW buing Husky's production facilities in Italy, which I suspected would be for manufacturing BMW/Aprilia Joint ventures.

KBasa said:

Interesting. With BMW having produced their own 450 dirtbike (release soon), I wonder if we'll see them use the Husqy marque to fill out the remainder of the range.

I believe the smaller Huskies all have headlights, so building a set of smaller supermotos would be a breeze.

I like it.

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Unfortunately, I fear less models, not more. I can't see BMW keeping all Husky's street legal bikes in the lineup, competing with the G650's and new 450 (AFAIK, MOST of this years Husky line-up is street legal). I see a few dirt models, but mostly a raid for R/D, manufacturing, and production facilities.

One point of fact about BMW/Mini: AFAIK, BMW bought the entire Rover Group, which included Land Rover, Rover, Mini, MG, Triumph and Riley brands. They sold Land Rover to Ford. They kept "new" mini and sold the rights to manufacture the remaining brands in the Rover Group, including the rights to the original mini, still in production, to a consortium led by the CEO of Rover, Ltd, for 10GBP. BMW still owns the brands.

Just to stir the pot.

Motociclismo, the Spanish motorcycle magazine has printed that BMW is finding the 450 is proving difficult to develop into a production model and will shelve it and go with a Husky model instead. Source is an unidentified BMW insider.

dlearl476 said:

One point of fact about BMW/Mini: AFAIK, BMW bought the entire Rover Group, which included Land Rover, Rover, Mini, MG, Triumph and Riley brands. They sold Land Rover to Ford. They kept "new" mini and sold the rights to manufacture the remaining brands in the Rover Group, including the rights to the original mini, still in production, to a consortium led by the CEO of Rover, Ltd, for 10GBP. BMW still owns the brands.

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To clarify a bit, and to respond to the comment about BMW selling Land Rover for $1, they actually sold Rover autos and Land Rover at the same time. Rover autos was losing money big time and has since gone under; the Chinese partner of the original Brit management team wound up with the Triumph and MG titles and will soon be selling their own MGs. At the time Land Rover was supposedly making money but BMW felt that they had to sell Land Rover to recoup some of their losses from the Rovers Cars debacle.

As Ford prepares to unload Land Rover (along with Jaguar and possibly Volvo) once again it was pointed out that Land Rover is profitable, something that Jaguar hasn't been for decades.

The car business is funny like that. When the assets of Bentley and Rolls Royce were sold off unexpectedly to Volkswagen, it transpired after the fact that BMW owned the rights to the Rolls Royce name through their investment years earlier of the Rolls Royce aircraft engine group, something that escaped the car guys at the time

Who knows. By the time that this is over with, BMW may be selling Rolls Royces with a Mini and a Husky thrown in with every purchase just to sweeten the sale

--PirateJohn--
www.PirateJohn.com

The U.S. market is probably not the main target of this acquisition. Maybe was not even considered as a major player in the acquisition. BMW has a history of not offering all models in all countries. In many markets it needs smaller bikes in the showroom to keep traffic up.

BMW has a long history of this type of deal. Before the first BMW bike was made it was producing bikes for other brands. In the 50ÔÇÖs the Isetta was built on a license. These are only two examples of what we would consider non traditional BMW deals.

BMW/Aprilia joint ventures are not precluded by the purchase of Husqvarna. The plants may not have been for sale without paying a bit of a premium for them with the Husky brand name and related designs and patents.

If the BMW 450 goes into production where will it be built? If BMW is willing to add a dirty 450 to the lineup why not round it out with the traditional full range that existing Huskies involve?

I do not see this purchase as being that similar to the Rover deal. They are not under the gun to turn around a failing company. Husqvarna may be small but it was viable. The MV Agusta group was divesting to get revenues and cut expenses so that they could focus on building superbikes.

If anyone has reason to be nervous it may be your local Husky dealer. In five years will he have to store the sign with the Husky name because, while still building bikes in the same plants, BMW has shelved the Husky name?