BMW will buy Husqvarna Motorcycles for an undisclosed sum, the German premium carmaker and motorcycle group said on Friday, marking its first acquisition of a rival since its ill-fated purchase of Rover in 1994.
BMW said the takeover was a logical step in bolstering its business selling light, sporty motorcycles, which it has reinforced of late with new models of the BMW G 650 X series.
"With the Husqvarna models targeted at the sporty competition, we will be able to extend the BMW Motorrad range to include younger groups of customers as well as the entire off-road and supermoto sector much more quickly and effectively than with our core brand alone," BMW's Herbert Diess said.
