Is KTM Actually On Better Financial Footing? It's Complicated

Bajaj, KTM's new owners, combined the brand's metrics, which is helping the brand look better than it likely is.

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

By: Jonathon Klein

Nov 10, at 8:07am ET

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KTM is still digging itself out of the billion-dollar hole it made for itself two years ago after it filed for insolvency proceedings. It was something that had to be done, after the brand overleveraged itself in basically every aspect of its business.

And after Bajaj purchased a controlling stake, it seemed that its financial footing would be quickly righted. That's largely the case, as revenue is back in the black, sales are up, and the company has stopped laying folks off and offloading assets. At least, that's what it looks like if you take a cursory glance at the brand's recently released Q3 financial statements.

But if you dive a little deeper, you'll see that Bajaj's merger with KTM has played with the numbers slightly, and it remains clear that KTM still has a long way to go to fix itself and make Bajaj a real profit.

First, the good news. Revenue is going up as we head into Q4, with the brand seeing €11.3 million in Q3. That's up from Q2 by a good margin, while also being way up from last year—up from a €71 million loss—too. And those profits seem to be fairly stable, with EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) rising to double digits after being firmly in the black. Sales, however, are where it gets far more murky.

According to Bajaj, "Motorcycle sales rose by 51.1% to 47,390 units (compared with 31,362 units in Q3/25)," adding, "The positive development also continued on a nine-month basis. A total of 136,363 motorcycles of the KTM, Husqvarna Motorcycles and GASGAS brands were sold, representing an increase of 75.4% compared with the prior-year period (77,748 units)."

That's all well and good, right, but how does this all break down? What percentage are new-old motorcycles? The financial report does state this in that regard, "Following the successful inventory reductions in previous quarters, global motorcycle inventories within the Group and at dealers and importers remained stable at a sustainably efficient level in the third quarter as well." But how much is still being used as a sales crutch?

And what percentage of those sales are KTM 390s, a motorcycle lineup that it doesn't produce in-house? What's the breakdown for Huskie or GasGas? All of this is unclear.

Moreover, because of Bajaj's ownership of the brands, the company also states, "In addition, 91,704 motorcycles1 were sold directly by Bajaj in India (55,427 units in Q3 YTD 2025). This brought worldwide motorcycle sales of the KTM, Husqvarna Motorcycles and GASGAS brands to a total of 228,067 units after the first three quarters (133,175 units in Q3 YTD 2025)." How does that play out exactly when Bajaj-branded motorcycles aren't broken out of those figures, i.e., the 228,067 figure?

What do you think?

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We're left with more questions than answers and whether this is some rose-colored glasses or whether or not KTM is actually OK. To that end, Bajaj CFO Petra Preining told investors, "After our first positive operating EBIT in the second quarter of 2026, we were able to increase profitability significantly again in the third quarter. At the same time, we further improved our cost structure and kept inventories at a sustainably efficient level. This development confirms that we have implemented the right measures and can build on a solid financial foundation."

So that might be our answer. Hopefully, better insight will follow, and KTM will remain on the up and up.