KTM has had a tough go of it recently. Maybe it was all that investment in the X-Bow, maybe the company didn’t make enough track-only RC 8Cs, or maybe the problem began when it turned down Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Regardless, the ready-to-race manufacturer now looks ready for bankruptcy proceedings, and it’s now reportedly struggling to even last that long.
Workers at KTM are still waiting on their November paychecks, which the company promised would be made up for with an advance on December salaries. Now, it’s going back on its word, by saying December pay will come at the end of the month — seemingly without word as to whether the company would pay out more than a fraction of its workers’ Christmas bonuses. From Kronen Zeitung, translated:
“There is simply no handshake quality anymore,” says Andreas Stangl. The president of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor is outraged by the developments at KTM. After the company had assured the more than 3,600 affected employees that it would pay them a 90 percent advance on their December salary a few days after the insolvency proceedings began, the workforce was then put off with this payment until shortly before Christmas.
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A blow for the employees, who are already waiting for their November salary and the majority of their Christmas bonus. “It’s devastating,” says Mattighofen’s mayor Daniel Lang. The mayor reports on employees who were among the first 250 to be laid off in December: “They still got 300 euros for the one day in November and their share of the Christmas bonus. They’re left with nothing.”
Kronen Zeitung previously reported that workers received a mere twelfth of their Christmas bonus, though there’s been no word on whether the company intends to make up the rest with a Jelly Of The Month Club membership. It may be the gift that keeps on giving the whole year, but it’s not a suitable replacement for pay that workers rely on as part of their salary.
It’s unclear what’s next for KTM, and what will result from the company’s looming bankruptcy. It’s meant to be supplying four factory RC16 bikes for the 2025 MotoGP season, but with that program on “pause,” it’s not clear what happens to riders Maverick Viñales, Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder, and Pedro Acosta. Acosta has said that the bankruptcy won’t affect the race teams, but he also didn’t know about the bankruptcy prior to renewing his contract — there may be more going on behind the scenes than what the riders are made aware of.
It’s also not clear what happens with Husqvarna, GasGas, or MV Agusta — all companies KTM either owns or has a major stake in. Regardless, the impending restructuring or loss of KTM is truly a blow to the motorcycling world. One can only wonder where the company would be right now if it had given a couple bikes to Ewan and Charley.