Well I’ve been asked about the future of MV Agusta since the exit of KTM and the Pierer Mobility Group and to be honest there has been very little information coming out of Varese during the whole shake up.
Timur Sardarov has been unusually quiet and I am sure there has been plenty going on behind closed doors that we will never hear about.
The rumour was that KTM had sold everything back to the Sardarov family for a single Euro, but I have absolutely no way of confirming that.
But a sale was made, and it was concluded around the time of MV Agusta’s 80th Anniversary celebrations.
Art of Mobility S.A., a company controlled by the Sardarov family, regained full control of the MV Agusta Group, officially marking its separation from KTM.
Although the media in general paints the Bajaj bailout as a positive end to the whole KTM saga, the impacts will continue to be felt across the industry and will reach far beyond the Austrian brand itself, but there was little in the way of any official news about the future of MV.
Finally, Luca Martin the Chief Operating Officer of MV Agusta gave us the first update on MV Agusta’s official stance and their journey back to independence.
He talked about the company becoming leaner and more competitive, with multiple announcements including the introduction of a 5 year warranty across many models and price slashes across the range too, but I will come to that later.
Anyway, KTM, or should I say Pierer Mobility, initially took a 25.1% stake in MV Agusta at the end of 2022. But another theoretical investment in 2024 saw the Austrian company take a majority stake in MV Agusta, but that 2nd agreement was all subject to financing, and shortly after, the true extent of KTM’s financial black hole came to light.
Needless to say, the second part of the agreement never happened.
Martin also acknowledged that while the process of separating MV Agusta from KTM isn’t yet complete, that it is progressing smoothly, and he believes it will be a seamless transition saying.
“There will be no major changes to the business,”
“Some KTM infrastructure will remain until the end of the year, but it will be behind-the-scenes operations like IT and logistics that remain shared for a while.”
He continued that:
“Splitting from the Pierer Mobility Group means MV will be establishing its own independent regional offices in main markets in Europe, America, Oceania, and Asia, and the company has already struck deals with importers in the rest of the world. The dealer network is confirmed, and we are proceeding to open some additional ones.”.
At present, MV Agusta’s global sales network, includes 219 active dealer sales points, and 41 service centres. They will all continue business as usual, but the total number is expected to reach 270 by the end of the year.
In addition, another 20 non-European importers are already included as part of the distribution network.
He then said:
“Initially, spare parts supplies will continue to use KTM logistics, but we are setting up a new agreement with a major logistics partner for the parts supply chain. That deal will mean that by the end of 2025 MV’s parts and distribution network will be completely independent of KTM’s.”.
In another announcement we heard that MV Agusta Centro Stile, the old Cagiva Race department which was rebranded as MV’s design department, will move from San Marino to the company’s main factory in Varese, and will be up and running by July the first.
Integrating the R&D operation with the production side of the business has to be a good idea, but the equipment and expertise in San Marino may not be so easily or happily be relocated.
MV has also reorganized its production lines, adopting the “Just In Time” system that Cagiva pioneered many years ago, less succesfully than Toyota did for sure, but they did do it first.
The idea being to streamline manufacturing and reduce waste, ensuring that the right components are in the right place in the right numbers at the right time, without unnecessarily high stock levels being held.
So they are trying to learn from KTM’s mistakes I guess, and like I said the system has been proven to work if they can get it right.
But at Cagiva there were never enough parts made, so we have to wait and see.
The plan according to the announcement is to allow the company to continue the positive growth it has managed over recent years, because over the past 18 months, despite the KTM debacle, MV Agusta has strengthened its financial stability.
Or so they say.
They say that in 2024, the company sold 4,000 motorcycles, which they go on to describe as an astonishing annual growth rate of 116% when compared to 2023, and that 2024 also marked MV Agusta’s best year ever for parts availability, because they managed a 99 per cent availability rate covering all models produced in the last seven years which is actually better than many companies seem to do these days.
However, when I dug deeper there are several things that don’t ring true about the official statement, because it isn’t that long ago they were producing 9,000 bikes per year.
The first thing I noticed was that only 2,500 of those registered sales were real, and that 1,500 of them at least were actually MV Agusta self registering bikes.
We get a very different view of MV Agusta’s situation from https://www.motorcyclesdata.com
Motorcyclesdata tracks new vehicles registrations across over 80 countries, reporting data by calendar year. When you compare data reported to the data declared by the manufacturers, they usually report their “sales” or vehicles invoiced, which is often different from “registrations”, However, in MV Agusta’s case it was not so simple.
They state that:
“In the last two years under KTM control, MV Agusta was focused on presenting unique series, opening mono-brand stores, participating in events with “state of the art” icon models. But they “forgot” to sell”.
“The results is that “real” 2024 registrations were around 2.500, with around the same amount of bikes parked up somewhere, under KTM control.”
That would mean 2024 returned one of the lowest levels of sales in the last 40 years
Then, in December, MV Agusta registered 1.267 bikes just in Italy, when there had only been 489 registered in the previous 11 month period.
The reason for this, is the EU deadline for registering vehicles that only comply with Euro 5 emissions ratings.
Several other manufacturers were left with excess euro 5 stock they were forced to self-register, but MV Agusta, driven by the Pierer Mobility Group seemed to have suffered more than many.
It was stated that around 2,500 bikes are still in the distribution network warehouses. All these bikes will see an immediate drop in value of a minimum of around 20%, and interestingly, that may well be a driving force behind some of the big drops in Manufacturers retail prices that have recently been announced.
Regardless, MV has also revealed that new models are on the way, confirming that a completely new bike will be launched in November, with just 1% of parts are carried over from the previous generation.
That tells us we are looking at a bike that is 99% brand new, but it also tells us it’s a bike to replace one of the existing models. Which one, is a different question.
They also mentioned the first prototype of a new engine that in their words “aims to redefine the concept of hyper-performance” at EICMA.
Could this finally be a new 4 cylinder engine to replace the F4 unit dropped in 2018 because it wouldn’t meet emissions regulations?
Or is this all about the new 4 cylinder 1000cc Rush model that has appeared on their web site with a quoted power above 200HP?
Lastly, they affirmed that from 2026 onward, MV will renew its full model range as well as entering new segments.
So there are some very bold claims here as well as some questionable figures.
And it did continue.
Another announcement was the introduction of an all new 5 year warranty on the Enduro Veloce, F3 Competizione models, and the entire Ottantesimo or 80th anniversary Collection.
In addition, all customers who purchased the Enduro Veloce and the LXP Orioli in 2024, will have their warranty automatically extended at no extra cost.
This is the next step in what MV Agusta describes as a customer-focused approach that the brand is adopting in every aspect of its operations.
Luca Martin continued that;
“The extension of the warranty from 4 to 5 years is not only an added value for MV Agusta customers but also a clear demonstration of the company’s confidence in the quality of its motorcycles, which are proudly Made in Italy, and the rigorous production processes that each model undergoes before delivery”.
“In recent years, we have embarked on a profound journey of transformation. New processes, a new approach to product development and, above all, a true shift in mindset.
Today, we are proud to be able to show our customers, who have always been the beating heart of MV Agusta, what it really means to put them at the centre.
That’s why we are extending our motorcycle warranty from 4 to 5 years. A decision rooted in the quality of our products, but above all, in the respect and trust we want to continue to earn, every day, on every road.”
Now the latest news seems to be a big cut in prices across the range that I mentioned briefly earlier.
I first heard about this from the states where there seems like some massive price drops. MV do seem quite guarded on printing prices but at MV London the prices have dropped too.
How much this is to clear any stock build up and how much will continue as solid MSRP’s into the future is anyone’s guess right now.
In the UK, the Enduro Veloce has dropped from £20,000 to £16,000 overnight. The Super Veloce falls from £20,000 to £15,000 and the Super Veloce S dropped from £24,000 to 17,000.
You get another £5,000 discount on the F3RR, but the biggest drop of all I could find listed was on the Brutale 1000RR.
The previous price had been a massive £32,000. Now, that has dropped an incredible £8,000 to £24,000 which has to be one of the biggest discounts I’ve seen all year, and that’s before any haggling.
Now don’t get me wrong, 24 thousand pounds for a motorcycle is still not exactly bargain basement prices, but these are MV Agusta’s we are talking about. When the starting price for a BMW M1000RR is over £32,000 before you add the competition pack and the Ducati Panigale V4R comes in at almost £40 thousand, the MV Brutale starts to look almost affordable. Even the basic Ducati Streetfighter V4R starts around £25,000, and the top spec Japanese bikes aren’t so far behind either.
It now puts a basic MV Agusta Brutale R at just £10,300. That actually makes it cheaper than a Kawasaki Z900SE which is over £11,000.
In Los Angeles the discounts are wild too.
The Brutale 1000RR drops from $38,000 down to $33,000 and the Super Veloce 98 limited
edition goes from $33,500 down to $27,900. The Super Veloce 800S goes from $27,900 to $23,000, and the Turismo Veloce complete with the SCES clutch drops down from $25,000 to $20,500.
And I imagine these discounts will gradually make their way around the globe.
They may well still be very expensive bikes, but when the upcoming Enduro Veloce was advertised in the USA with a MSRP under $20,000 and is priced at £16,000 in the UK, it now puts it in direct competition with bikes like the Desert X, Multistrada and BMW R1300GS.
In fact, because of the standard spec, it might well work out cheaper than most of that bunch on the road.
It places it just a little more than the Triumph Tiger 900, which places it in a much better position to steal market shares than it was a few months ago.
So, could MV Agusta be set to bounce back from the brink yet again?
What does the future hold?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.