Gustl Auinger had virtually anticipated it. “An exit only comes when everything really goes wrong,” said the Austrian motorcycle icon to STANDARD in mid-December about KTM’s involvement in motorsport. Well, things went wrong in Mattighofen. From the 2026 season onwards, the ailing manufacturer wants to say goodbye to the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 road racing series. But there is also good news: According to an analysis by the Boston Consulting Group, the off-road segment, in which KTM is the market leader, will record stable growth rates of around 3.5 percent in the next few years. The 47th Dakar Rally, which begins on Friday, is just the right advertising medium.
