Felt Bicycles acquired by parent of KTM motorcycles
Felt Bicycles acquired by parent of KTM motorcycles
Felt Bicycles has been acquired by Pierer Mobility, the Austrian-based parent company of KTM and Husqvarna motorcycles. Pierer purchased the Californian bicycle brand from Rossignol Groupe.
Rossignol had previously acquired the Felt Bicycles brand in 2017 in an effort to diversify its product portfolio beyond winter sports. Rossignol’s sale of Felt Bicycles follows its recent independent sales of the Time bike and pedal businesses, with the latter now under the ownership of SRAM. Rossignol plans to relaunch its own-named bike brand in 2022.
With annual sales in excess of €1.5 billion, Pierer Mobility’s acquisition of Felt Bicycles shows the company’s continued investment in cycling. The Austrian company already offers e-bikes under the brands of Husqvarna, R Raymon, and GasGas. Pierer Mobility is not related to KTM Fahrrad, the company responsible for KTM bicycles and e-bikes.
According to Pierer Mobility’s CEO, Stefan Pierer, the addition of Felt Bicycles will expand the bicycle portfolio and provide a strong North American presence for the company. Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) reported that Felt employees will be integrated into the Pierer E-Bikes Gmbh group.
Interestingly, Felt currently doesn’t offer an e-bike in its range (although the company has done so previously). It’s not much of a stretch to assume that Felt Bicycles will re-enter the e-bike market; perhaps the larger question is whether Pierer will continue to invest in Felt’s non-electric performance bikes for which the brand is best known.
What is clear is that the continued growth of e-bikes has spurred some significant capital investment in recent times, namely from traditional motorsport and automotive companies. Pierer Mobility’s largest competitor in the e-bike market is Pon Holdings, a now diversified automotive company that recently acquired Dorel Sports (parent of Cannondale, GT, Schwinn, and Mongoose) for US$810 million to join its extensive list of other cycling brands.
To learn more, check out Steve Frothingham’s detailed report on the acquisition over at BRAIN.
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