Husqvarna Motorcycles

Husqvarna Motorcycles GmbH (; marketed as Husqvarna) is a Swedish-origin Austrian company which designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes motocross, enduro, supermoto and street motorcycles.

The company began producing motorcycles in 1903 at Huskvarna, Sweden, as a subsidiary of the Husqvarna armament firm. Today, Husqvarna Motorcycles GmbH is owned by PIERER Mobility Group.

History

Prior to 1987

Husqvarna was founded near the town of Huskvarna in Sweden in 1689. The company started out as a maker of muskets, and the Husqvarna logo still depicts a gun sight viewed from the end of the barrel.

As with many motorcycle manufacturers, Husqvarna first began producing bicycles in the late 19th century. In 1903, they made the jump to motorcycle manufacturing. The first "Husky" motorcycles used imported engines, and it was not until 1918 that Husqvarna began producing machines built entirely in-house. Around that time they secured a contract with the Swedish Army, and also began entering cross-country and long-distance motorcycle races. In 1920, Husqvarna established its own engine factory and the first engine to be designed was a 550 cc four-stroke 50-degree side-valve V-twin engine, similar to those made by companies like Harley-Davidson and Indian.

Husqvarna competed in Grand Prix road racing in the 350cc and 500cc classes during the 1930s and was Sweden's largest motorcycle manufacturer by 1939. All of the racing bikes were based on a 50-degree V-twin prototype built by Folke Mannerstedt in 1931. The company team beat the Norton works team at the Swedish GP in 1931 with a 1–2 finish by Ragnar Sundqvist and Gunnar Kalén. This and the next year's success led to a full commitment to the GP tracks with Stanley Woods and Ernie Nott joining the Husqvarna riding team. That year, Nott finished third in the 350cc Junior TT and Woods ran out of gas eight miles before the finish of the Senior TT. In 1935, the company withdrew racing support, but new bikes were still produced and raced privately, while the company focused on producing a new two-stroke, two-speed commuter bike. That year, Woods won the Swedish GP (marking the fourth year in a row that a "Husky" had won) on a 500cc Husqvarna motorcycle that weighted .

With the rise of motocross as a sport Husqvarna focused on producing light weight racing bikes. They adapted their lightweight single cylinder bike to racing and delivered the Silverpilen, meaning 'silver arrow' in Swedish. At 75 kg and designed for racing it gained widespread popularity. Sporting many innovations like telescoping front forks and hydraulic damped suspension it became an international success. The 1959 motocross championship went to Rolf Tibblin and his 250 cc Husqvarna. The 1960 world 500 cc motocross championship was won by Bill Nilsson on a four-stroke Husqvarna. In the 1960s, their lightweight, two-stroke-engined off-road bikes helped make the once-dominant British four-stroke motorcycles obsolete. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Husqvarna was a dominant force in the motocross world, winning 14 motocross world championships in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc divisions, 24 enduro world championships and 11 Baja 1000 victories.

1983 saw Husqvarna innovate again with the introduction of a 500 cc bike that set new standards for competition four-strokes. It was lightweight, air-cooled, easy-handling and changed the future of off-road racing motorcycles. It was the predecessor of the Husaberg brand.

Ownership changes and acquisition by KTM

In 1987, the Husqvarna motorcycle division (not the other arms of the brand such as chainsaw production) was sold to Italian motorcycle manufacturer Cagiva, and years later became part of MV Agusta. A group of the company's managers and engineers were not willing to move to Italy and therefore founded Husaberg – which was acquired by KTM in 1995. Husqvarna motorcycles were then produced in Varese, Italy.

In July 2007, Husqvarna motorcycles was purchased by BMW Motorrad for a reported . BMW planned to continue operating Husqvarna Motorcycles as a separate enterprise. All development, sales and production activities, as well as the workforce, remained at the Varese location. BMW intended to position Husqvarna as "the two-wheeled version of what Mini is to the BMW's car division".

On 31 January 2013 BMW announced that Pierer Industrie has bought full stake in Husqvarna for an undisclosed amount. Pierer Industrie CEO, Stefan Pierer was also the CEO of Cross Industries, then the main shareholder of KTM-Sportmotorcycle parent KTM, and the CEO of KTM. Later in 2013, direct ownership of the Husqvarna company was transferred and license rights were sold from Pierer Industrie to KTM, making the newly established Husqvarna Motorcycle GmbH part of the KTM Group. Husqvarna motorcycle production at Mattighofen in Austria started on 7 October 2013. At the same time, Husqvarna spin-off Husaberg was re-united with Husqvarna, terminating the existence of the Husaberg brand.

Recent developments

Recently, Husqvarna Motorcycles has been preparing its re-entry into the street motorcycle market. In 2014, the company presented prototypes of the newly developed 401 Vitpilen and 401 Svartpilen at the EICMA in Milan, Italy. Production ready versions were shown in 2016. Together with the 701 Vitpilen, which was first revealed in 2015, these motorcycles became publicly available in 2018.

In 2017, Husqvarna Motorcycles introduced a new range of enduro motorcycles with a self-developed two-stroke fuel injection system (Transfer Port Injection - TPI). The new fuel efficient, sensor-controlled technology conforms with the Euro 4 regulations for emission management.

Timeline of ownership

* 1903 – Subsidiary of Husqvarna Armament
* 1978 – Electrolux acquired Husqvarna.
* 1987 – Motorcycle division sold to Cagiva
* 1988 – Husaberg Motor AB brand spinoff
* 2007 – Husqvarna motorcycles purchased by BMW
* 2013 – Husqvarna AG purchased by Pierer Industrie
* 2013 – Transfer to KTM AG, establishing Husqvarna Motorcycle GmbH and reuniting with Husaberg

Current models

Model naming conventions

Husqvarna names many of their motorcycles according to a nomenclature of engine cycle ("F" for Four-stroke, "T" for Two-stroke), application or type ("C" for motoCross machines, "E" for Enduro motorcycles, "X" for Xcountry machines, "S" for Supermotos), and engine displacement. Some models of two-stroke machines formally had the suffix "i" included to indicate that these models have transfer port injection, rather than carburetors, but Husqvarna has since changed nearly all large-displacement two-stroke models to fuel injection. For example:

* FS 450 - a four-stroke supermoto with 450 cc engine displacement
* TE 300i - a two-stroke enduro motorcycle with 300 cc engine displacement and transfer port injection
* TC 125 - a two-stroke motocross machine with 125 cc engine displacement and carburetor

Some newer models (particularly of larger displacement) include a numbered designation of _01. These designations are not direct references to the engine displacement, but approximate values. For example:

* 401 designates a 373 cc engine, derived from the KTM 390 series of street bikes
* 501 designates a 510 cc engine, derived from the KTM 500 series of enduro bikes
* 701 designates a 690 cc engine, derived from the KTM 690 series of enduro, supermoto, and street bikes

Husqvarna also use the names "Vitpilen" and "Svartpilen" for their range of naked street bikes, which are Swedish for "white arrow" and "black arrow", respectively.

Racing

Husqvarna has been a regular and successful presence at international off-road racing events since the 1930s. By 2008, riders on Husqvarna machines had secured more than 70 Motocross, Enduro and Supermoto world titles as well as numerous victories at important rally races like the Baja 1000.

Since 2015, the energy drink manufacturer Rockstar is the title sponsor of Husqvarna's off-road factory team. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team competes in all off-road classes, participating in every event of the AMA Supercross and Motocross series. So far, it has scored titles in the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, the 2015/2016 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship and in the 2016 AMA EnduroCross Championship.

Exemplary Championships

Motocross

* 1959 – Rolf Tibblin, European Motocross Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1960 – Bill Nilsson, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1962 – Rolf Tibblin, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1962 – Torsten Hallman, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1963 – Rolf Tibblin, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1963 – Torsten Hallman, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1966 – Torsten Hallman, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1967 – Torsten Hallman, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1969 – Bengt Åberg, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1970 – Bengt Åberg, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1974 – Heikki Mikkola, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1976 – Heikki Mikkola, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1979 – Håkan Carlqvist, Motocross World Champion, 250 cc class.
* 1993 – Jacky Martens, Motocross World Champion, 500 cc class.
* 1998 – Alessio Chiodi, Motocross World Champion, 125 cc class
* 1999 – Alessio Chiodi, Motocross World Champion, 125 cc class
* 2014 – Ben Adriaenssen