2025 Husqvarna enduro models arrived this week with a twist in the tale, a new brand name of Husqvarna Mobility. But what might that mean for enduro?

It might not sound significant, but the change in name which has arrived without warning with this week’s MY25 Husqvarna enduro model news is worth taking note of: Husqvarna Motorcycles has become Husqvarna Mobility.

It’s been coming, Enduro21 has written about it already, but the belief that Husqvarna will, to use corporate speak, ‘adjust its position in the market’ and be less race-focused could just have gained momentum. Is Husqvarna shifting away from a focus on racing (to let KTM hold that position without challenge) and diversifying further with electric bikes, scooters, street bikes and more?

No smoke without fire

To use a couple of heat-based analogies, seeing Husqvarna Mobility at the top of the PR material puts more fuel on a fire which has been smouldering for a while. Though the change of name is only a minor thing for us who buy enduro bikes, there is no smoke without fire and this switch to focus on a wider portfolio could, we stress could, mean less emphasis on our sport. Or it could all be smoke and mirrors of course…

With an increasing portfolio including CFMoto and MV Agusta in the Pierer Mobility Group, that previous principle of covering all bases with all their ‘brands’ (KTM, Husqvarna and most recently GASGAS in off-road sport) and dominating the market could about to become history – at least in terms of representing at the highest level of motorcycle sport.

Husqvarnas already dropped out of the EnduroGP World Championship last year, and currently there is just one KTM and GASGAS rider in GPs, respectively Josep Garcia and Andrea Verona.

In the Hard Enduro World Championship Mani Lettenbichler is on the KTM and Billy Bolt, currently injured, representing Husqvarna (and in SuperEnduro of course). Michael Walkner was at Erzberg as the official GASGAS rider – the Walkner family is part of the development team for enduro bikes in Austria – but he does not contest the full HEWC series.

The rumour circulating, and not helped by this name change, is that the factory team will drop the white bikes from enduro altogether and either focus on a two-rider KTM team or one orange and one red rider, as in EnduroGP.

That could mean Bolt, whose contract comes up later this year we believe, may move to an orange or red bike – or another manufacturer if anyone can tempt a man who is naturally hot property.

Good idea to focus on KTM or not?

A walk around any Scandinavian paddock will show you how many Husqvarnas there are in enduro. Pierer Mobility, the over-arching company behind the orange, white and red bikes, still seems bent on dominating off-road sport but long-gone are the days of a huge blanket of riders across all classes like we used to see 15 years ago.

This is the Husqvarna enduro team just 10 years ago in 2014...

They have made huge cutbacks in off-road compared to where they used to be in enduro and rally. Although MotoGP continues to be a huge sponge for money without a major title, interestingly 2025 will see a re-focus on KTM in MotoGP with factory and satellite teams running KTM livery.

You might have previously expected to see the ever-expanding Austrian empire keep adding to the tally with new off-road versions of the KTM-developed bikes, but with CF Moto or MV Agusta on the tank shrouds.

Not so it seems with a change potentially coming to clarify those muddy waters. Since the KTM EXC range shifted back to be the “premium” brand again with the ’24 models, Husqvarna kinda got caught in no-man’s land between orange and red in some dealer showrooms (at least those outside Scandinavia).

There are many who will tell you having three near identical bikes in a dealer showroom, and in large volume, makes the bike sales market worse for everyone. It’s proving too much for some dealers to cope with and has made for a good deal of confusion in the off-road motorcycle market – go ask any dealer yourself how they’re getting on with new or used bike sales lately.

And that’s not to touch on the rumours floating around this week about the prospect of KTM dropping two-stroke bikes altogether in 2026 due to the European emissions regulations. It seems unlikely to us, but …

Photo Credit: Future7Media + Husqvarna + KTM