Austria’s Pierer Mobility Group has acquired a 50. 1% stake in motorcycle maker MV Agusta, adding the often problematic but iconic boutique logo to its group of motorcycle companies, which now includes KTM, Husqvarna, Gas Gas and motorsport suspension maker WP. also known as Pierer Mobility AG, it also owns premium bike manufacturer Felt, as well as some Gen R companies and
MV Agusta, a mythical brand in the motorcycle industry, was born in Italy as a successful aircraft builder shortly after the Wright brothers left in 1903. But as Italy banned aircraft production after World War II, the company turned to motorcycles and, through the mid-1960s, established itself as a designer and manufacturer of high-end motorcycles, adding racing machines.
In fact, MV Agusta produced and sold styles with inline four-cylinder engines and disc brakes, such as the Six Hundred Turismo and 750S, three years before Honda’s iconic CB750 styling, which debuted in 1969 and is sometimes considered an iconic style that replaced the industry. But MVs, while probably superior, were manufactured in small numbers, were much more expensive, and had a limited presence outside Europe.
Even today, MV Agusta four-cylinder machines from the 1960s and 1970s are highly prized and sold at auction for six-figure sums. The company has also enjoyed consistent success in racing, winning 37 world championships, the most ever won by a motorcycle manufacturer.
But MV Agusta models, then as now, were produced in numbers dwarfed by those of Asian and European brands such as BMW, Ducati and Moto Guzzi.
The founder, Count Domenico Agusta, died in 1971 and, without his constant leadership, the company went bankrupt temporarily. In 1980, the doors were closed, but the logo was revived through Italian motorcycle conglomerate Cagiva in 1992. At the time, Cagiva also owned Ducati, Husqvarna and Moto Morini. New models have been developed for the fashion market.
In 1996, a new 750cc MV Agusta four-cylinder machine, the F4, made its debut. Dressed in an ambitious chassis designed by Ducati 916 stylist Massimo Tamburini, the new MV Agusta F4 quickly made a splash and was included in the Historical Art Motorcycle Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. However, parent company Cagiva fell into a desperate monetary situation and sold Ducati to an organization in Texas for an injection of money. Ironically, in the reorganization that followed, MV Agusta became Cagiva’s parent company.
Meanwhile, production of the F4 continued, reaching a displacement of one liter and reaching a mere two hundred horsepower in two hundred4. But economic problems persisted and in 2008 MV Agusta was bought through an unlikely contender seeking imaginable access to this fashionable sport. Bicycle market: Harley-Davidson. La honeymoon was short and Harley sold MV to the Castiglioni family in Italy the following year for one euro, or about a dollar.
A photograph shows the rear exhaust of the 998cc MV Agusta “F4” motorcycle in a demonstration at the TokyoArray. [ ] Tokyo Motorcycle Show 2010 on 28 March 2010. More than one hundred corporations participated in the exhibition to present their recent motorcycle productions. AFP PHOTO/TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA (Photo credits: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
With this new leadership, new models appeared, adding a number of “naked” flavored three-cylinder city bikes, as well as the sleek F4 machines. Despite the difficulties, MV sold only about 10,000 units in 2014, but the company simply couldn’t. scale and the owners accepted an investment from Mercedes AMG to hopefully improve its capabilities. Two years later, Mercedes divested its stake in MV and the company filed for bankruptcy, cutting production and laying off employees. But MV Agusta persisted and motorcycles continued to be published, in “limited series” of only several hundred sets.
In 2017, a Russian investment firm jumped on the bandwagon, but it wasn’t until 2022, when the Pierer group acquired a 25% stake in the company, that the logo seemed to have finally found solid financial footing. Executives were on the rhythm of tidying up portions and production problems.
MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 6: An Agusta MV is on display at the 71st EICMA 2013Array. [ ] International Motorcycle Show on November 6, 2013 in Milan, Italy. (Photo via Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
The Pierer group has increased its stake to 50. 1%, something it had planned to do in 2025, but which it will have to bring forward this year if the monetary situation allows it. ” The acquisition option granted to KTM AG on the basis of the annual accounts (. . . ) it will now be exercised in advance,” the company said in a statement. KTM will “take on. . . commercial control of MV Agusta” in the future. The press release also notes that one of the steps is to produce 10,000 units. of MV Agusta’s existing plant in Verase, Italy. Further enlargement is probably planned.
Today, the MV Agusta website features 4 base models and more than a dozen variants in total, adding new access to the popular “adventure” segment called the Oriolo LXP. The mountain bike is powered by a 931cc three-cylinder engine with over 120 horsepower. The top-of-the-range Superveloce 98 sports motorcycle, now also powered by a triple piston, combines modern styling with some old-fashioned touches reminiscent of mid-century MV race bikes.
The company’s website also includes an electric scooter and an electric bike. At the time of writing, no new 2024 models have been announced yet, the company was present at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan last year, showcasing the existing 2023 models. .