KTM Joins The Billion Dollar Club

KTM continues their winning streak, topping a billion dollars in sales for 2015 with their fifth consecutive record-setting year - and they have even more exciting things in store going forward. Can anything stop the orange onslaught?

The numbers have been tallied up, and once again, KTM proves they're on a roll and showing no signs of slowing. 2015 was the Austrian manufacturers 5th consecutive year of record-breaking sales, with 180,801 units sold last year. But the big news for KTM is that they have officially joined the "billion dollar club" in 2015, eclipsing a billion dollars in sales for the first time ever ($1.02 billion, to be exact.)

This is big news for KTM, but not a big surprise if you've followed their path in the industry. KTM has been crushing it on all fronts in the last several years, making a very successful expansion into the street and adventure segments while still dominating at the off-road racing the brand built its reputation on. KTM went from being a niche dirt bike manufacturer to having an impressive portfolio across all major motorcycling segments in the span of less than 10 years, and their bikes are highly sought-after in every category they compete in.

But the reason they're doing so well isn't just their motorcycles. Their success has been the result of great strategic thinking and several key moves in recent years, such as:

• Introducing several key models in the naked street bike category as it was peaking in popularity world wide, such as the Duke 690 and the awe-inspiring Duke 1290
• Introducing a class-leading adventure bike as the market segment reached new heights, the KTM 1190 Adventure
• Being the first manufacturer to put ABS on every single model, even their entry-level 125s
• Aggressively pursuing the underserved 350-500cc street market, with exciting models like the 390 Duke and the RC390 sport bike
• Acquiring and re-inventing Husqvarna (which itself saw a 32% increase in year-over-year sales in 2015)

In addition, staying true to the company's motto, "Ready to Race," KTM has continued to dominate in off-road racing, with a host of wins in motocross and supercross (most notably, last year's Monster Energy Supercross title, with Ryan Dungey in the saddle), along with winning this year's Paris Dakar Rally for an unheard-of15 times in a row! They are also the manufacturer sponsor of the new MotoAmerica RC Cup series, a road racing series for young riders in the U.S. that takes place entirely on KTM RC390 race bikes.

KTM has had some big wins in the industry in the last few years, like this RC390 sport bike, which filled an underserved market and now even has its own racing series in the U.S.

KTM is firing on all cylinders right now; not just winning races and selling motorcycles, but on the business front as well. A billion dollars in sales means nothing if a company isn't profitable, but KTM is kicking ass on paper too; 2015 earnings were an incredible26% higher than in 2014. KTM is an incredibly well-run company, and it shows - shares of KTM have nearly tripled in the last 5 years.

KTM is one of the hottest companies to watch in the industry right now, and there will be even more exciting stuff coming in 2016 and 2017. According to an interview in Cycle World with CEO Stefan Pierer last month, KTM plans to finally break into the Brazil market, expand the Husqvarna line-up in 2016, will field a factory MotoGP team for 2017, and even more exciting, will be building a production replica of the V4 race bike they plan to race!

Keep your eye on KTM in 2016 – they're a hungry company that wants to dominate as much in the industry as they do in racing...and that's just the kind of stuff we riders love!

"To compete against the Japanese" is KTM's primary motivation, said CEO Stefan Pierer in an interview in 2015. "That’s the only thing that’s driving us. It’s like in motocross: Every lap you look to see how far ahead your competitors are. We can see already the yellow one (Suzuki) and the green one (Kawasaki) are not too far away."