X FACTOR

Let’s start this feature with a tiny history lesson on how the SWM name came to be resurrected.

Remember when BMW wanted to get into the dirtbike market so they built the G 450X? It was a bit shit but they were keen to appeal to a younger, ‘sportier’ crowd, so not long after in 2007 they bought Husqvarna. This was a rare move for BMW, which hadn’t acquired another motoring brand since its ill-fated Rover buyout from Honda in 1994. Ask a Rover owner about this now and they’ll drop their scone.

BMW’s ownership of Husqvarna was essentially a financial disaster and after six years without producing many motorcycles worthy of high praise, they sold it off to KTM (technically Pierer Industrie AG) in 2013. KTM moved manufacturing to Austria, which left a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility (courtesy of generous upgrades by BMW) sitting idle in Verase, Italy, and a heap of workers now out of jobs.

So, with backing