MV Agusta failed the restructuring plan. In 2022 global sales exceeded marginally the 3.000 units, at over the half of the best performance in the last decade (6.2K in 2015). And KTM is ready to purchase 100%.
McD tracks new vehicles registrations across the World (over 80 countries), reporting data on calendar year. When you wish to compare data reported by us to those declared by the manufacturers, consider they usually report their “sales” (vehicles invoiced), which are usually different from “registrations”, accordingly with their fiscal year split.
An Ownership change in place
The company was acquired by a Russian family in 2019 with ambitious restructuring plans. They arrived when global sales were at the lowest in 20 years with just 2.478 sales achieved in 2018. However, they declared to the banks and the press to be able revamping the manufacturer aiming to hit the 10K sales in 2/3 years.
The spread of the pandemic clearly impacted their timing, but sales have been disappointing in 2020, in 2021 and even in 2022.
Sales in 2022 exceeded marginally the 3.000, at over the half of the best performance in the last decade (6.2K in 2015) and the owner was forced to search a new partner, as first step before to quit the company.
Indeed, in November, KTM Group acquired the 25% of MV Agusta taking under direct control the two most strategic areas, the Purchase and the Distribution. Only fiscal and financial reasons have diluted the full purchase process and we bet KTM will be the owner of 100% before this year end.
Looking on the 2022 performance, sales in several European countries were extremely weak. For instance, in Italy, Switzerland and Germany sales were near 1/3 of 2015 level and in UK were down 50%.
Outside of Europe, sales are very marginal and even in the internationalization project announcements had not been followed by real facts.
Brand Heritage
MV Agusta Motor S.p.A, was founded by Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of the Agusta aircraft company near Milan, Italy.
The reason to produce and sell motorcycles was almost exclusively to fund the owners passion for racing. They were determined to have the best Grand Prix motorcycle racing team in the world and spared no expense on their passion. MV Agusta produced their first prototype, called “98”, in 1945. and in 1948, the company built a 125cc two-stroke single to participate in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. They immediately won starting the legend.
MV Agusta went on to dominate Grand Prix racing, winning 17 consecutive 500cc world championships. Count Agusta’s competitive nature drove him to hire some of the best riders of the time, including Carlo Ubbiali, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read, and the best engineers, in particular Arturo Magni. The three- and four-cylinder race bikes were known for their excellent road handling. The fire-engine red racing machines became a hallmark of Grand Prix racing in the 1960s and early 1970s.
With the death of Count Domenico Agusta in 1971, the company lost its guiding force. The company won their last Grand Prix in 1976 and by the end of the season they were out of racing. The company’s precarious economic position forced MV Agusta to seek out a new financial partner. A solution was found in the form of public financing giant EFIM, which demanded that MV Agusta exit the motorcycle industry if were to have any chance of straightening its finances. However, they continued to sell bikes until 1980, when the last machine in the Cascina Costa warehouses was brought up.
Cagiva Group (Castiglioni family) purchased the MV Agusta name trademarks in 1991, but only in 1997 it introduced the first new MV Agusta motorcycle, when the group was selling Ducati to an American fund. However, they struggled for revamping the company despite been able to find several financial partners, like Proton (2001), Harley-Davidson (2009), Mercedes (2014) and finally an investment fund, the Black Ocean Group (2016).
The last owner is a Russian family, which took the control in the 2019 and nowadays the company is under the leadership of Timur Sardarov, which built a new management team and is providing a huge effort to pull back the company in a financial stability, with ambitious plans for the future.
Despite financial troubles, in the last twenty years MV Agusta produced high stylish italian motorcycles and the current line up consists in the high supersport families of Brutale, Dragster, Turismo Veloce, F3, Rush and Superveloce.
