What’s in a name? To most of us, probably not much. But to profit focused companies, their name is a very significant part of their brand. And every once in a while, a company decides to revise its image and brand by changing its name. Perhaps sometimes it really is a big change, like when a company exits a certain product area to concentrate on something completely different. But other times, it’s a bit of smoke and mirrors similar to the re-branding of Comcast into Xfinity. Some would say they changed their brand to escape a terrible reputation and start with a clean slate. Whatever the reason, companies sometimes change their brand, and now, Husqvarna Motorcycles has rebranded itself as Husqvarna Mobility. Hmm…

Lots of brands

It’s pretty common knowledge that Pierer Mobility is the parent company of KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, and MV Agusta and has become the distributor of CFMOTO motorcycles in several parts of Europe.  That’s a lot of different brands. But when a company like Pierer Mobility has multiple brands in similar motorcycle segments (e.g., KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas), it can become difficult for the brand and consumers to know the differences between each company’s products.

Adjusting its market position

And perhaps that’s why Pierer Mobility has apparently decided to change Husqvarna’s branding. One European outlet thinks that the change is the beginning of the end of Husqvarna’s off-road racing pedigree. They suggest that Husqvarna will “adjust its position in the market” and become a less off-road racing-focused brand and leave that space to KTM. They go further to suggest that Husqvarna will continue to diversify its product range and concentrate more on products like electric bikes, scooters, street bikes, and more.

To backup their claim, they point to what has happened to Husqvarna’s off-road racing squads. They say Husqvarna’s exit from the EnduroGP World Championship and its single rider in the Hard Enduro World Championship are indicators that Husqvarna has already started moving away from off-road enduro competition. That said, Husqvarna’s US Off-Road Factory Squad shows seven riders for 2024.

Five of seven Husqvarna Mobility’s Factory Off-road Riders. Photo: Husqvarna Mobility

Interestingly, on the MotoGP side of two-wheel competition, the Husqvarna brand doesn’t have any representation in MotoGP’s premier class. They have been relegated to Moto3 and Moto2. Pierer Mobility’s GasGas brand got the nod over Husqvarna to contest in the premier MotoGP class. That’s quite surprising considering that GasGas was probably best known for its trials bikes, was acquired much later, and is a relative newcomer to Pierer Mobility’s motorcycle brand stable. So it seems when it comes to another form of racing (road racing), Husqvarna is once again taking a back seat to its younger sibling.

The Husqvarna brand competes only in Moto 2 and Moto 3  and does not race at the highest MotoGP level in the MotoGP World Championship. Its newer sibling, GasGas, got the nod instead. Photo: Husqvarna Mobility

All of the above seem to point to a repositioning of the Husqvarna brand. The only one who really knows what lies ahead for Husky is Pierer Mobility’s owner, Stefan Pierer, and he’s apparently not talking—at least for now.

Website whisper?

A trip to the Husqvarna Motorcycles (USA) website shows that it is still branded as Husqvarna Motorcycles. But when you scroll down the page, you’ll find that the company has suddenly changed its name to Husqvarna Mobility. In their latest news, introducing their 2025 enduro range, they brand themselves as Husqvarna Mobility. There hasn’t been a lot of fanfare about the change, which is both understandable and a bit strange at the same time. When a company changes its brand, it does it for a reason(s). Often, it’s to reposition themselves in the market. But Pierer Mobility is in a bit of a jam since they own four different brands (KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, and MV Agusta), each of which has some sort of racing heritage.

As the saying goes, “When everyone is special, no one is special,” and Pierer Mobility has many “special” motorcycle brands. So what might Pierer Mobility do? They could try to create different niches for each brand so one Pierer Mobility brand does not take sales from a different Pierer Mobility brand.

The Impact of Modular Assembly

Adding to this dilemma is many manufacturer’s use of modular assembly. With modular builds, a manufacturer can use a large set of its components on other models, and in the case of some of Pierer Mobility’s brands, nearly entire motorcycles, and brand them differently. As a case in point, ask yourself how different are KTM’s 690 Enduro and Husqvarna’s 701 Enduro? The answer is that there is not much difference between the two brands’ models. How about, what’s the difference between a KTM 890 Adventure and a Norden 901 Expedition? Again, the answer is not much other than bodywork. So you can see Pierer Mobility’s problem.

Travel versus performance?

So, instead of making a big hoopla about branding, Pierer Mobility has apparently decided that it needs to quietly create a special niche for Husqvarna to separate it from (most likely) KTM. KTM will get to keep the “Ready To Race” performance positioning while Husqvarna moves more toward capable adventure travel motorcycles and less performance-oriented street motorcycles. In addition, the Husqvarna brand already has electric bicycles. Perhaps Husqvarna branded electric bicycles are another clue that it has already made the move to “transportation” over outright performance.

So what do you think? Like one European outlet, do you think Husqvarna’s name change is the beginning of the end for Husqvarna’s Enduro and Hard Enduro ranges? Or is it little more than corporate mumbo jumbo? Let us know in the comments below.