Having a business based in Italy I am there quite often. I have seen several recent postings concerning the MV Piaggio deal and the Facts are as follows:

MV Agusta filed for chapter 11 protection during the first week in October. Approximately 250 million dollars were listed as debt. As of last week the tribunal court in Italy approved the Chapter 11 filing and appointed 3 administrators to look after and supervise their affairs (quite similar to the Chapter 11 filings in our country).

All outstanding debts have been frozen and the factory is hoping to begin production once again in January producing approximately 120 motorcycles per day (I believe this number to include all the brands).

If you speak Italian this information can be found on the web site of MOTOCICLISMO which is Italy's most popular motorcycle magazine.

PS I still have my 2000 F4 for sale with 700 miles. Anyone interested can contact me via email

-- gregg levethan (gregg@levethan.com), November 21, 2002

Answers

Isn't a chapter 11 a bankruptcy for reorganization? With that in mind, I don't believe this bankruptcy is the end of the MV Agusta model....at least in the long run.

In the first and most likely scenario, I believe the bankruptcy is just to give MV Agusta some breathing room. After all, they are still hoping to produce motorcycles in January 2003. Actually, I thought MV produced less than 120 motorcycles a day. Perhaps we can help the company out by buying another MV Agusta. :)

In the second scenario, if the reorganization doesn't work and MV files a chapter 7, I imagine that some person or company will then step in, buy the company for dirt cheap and continue making the MV Agusta. The MV Agusta is just too high profile to just fade into motorcycle oblivion. My understandings of chapter 7 & 11 bankruptcies are a little foggy, but I believe it would set the company up to be bought out by another investor/manufacturer, etc very cheaply. Does this sound like a likely scenario?

In regards to effects on the MV, in the short term, this would probably hurts sales as potential buyers lean toward other brands. In the long run, MV Agusta should benefit either way. In the first scenario, they will hopefully paid of their debts. In the second scenario, a new owner and fresh capital will be what MV Agusta needs to improve on reliability and introduce new models. The downside is, if the new owner follow in Ducati's footsteps, the MV will become more mass produced and depreciate much faster. I think the big question is, what are the bankruptcies implications for MV Agusta F4S' that were produce before the bankruptcy or change of company owners?

PS: I sent an e-mail to Cagiva U.S.A to see if they have anything to add. I hope they respond.

-- Allan Gibbs (Phoenix, Arizona) (Agibbs996@aol.com), November 22, 2002.

My memory is not 100% about the history of the Cagiva group, but wasn't Ducati nearly in the same situation when TPG bought 50% of them? I remember in 1996 (when I got my 851), the 916's were produced in limited numbers because they had the same parts supply issues as they apparently have had with MV. During that time many bikes sat awaiting a few parts to complete assembly, but the parts could not be bought because they had no money, they couldn't raise money without selling bikes, so it was just an endless circle.

What concerns me most about this current situation with MV is that they do not have any "bread and butter" models (like the monster) to help bring revenue into the company and help bring them out of this position. My question to Cagiva would be this: if you weren't able to make money in the past three years with the F4, why do you think you could make money next year with basically the same bike?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see MV scooters, an MV cruiser, or an MV "adventure-tourer". It is just unfortunate that they lacked the forsight to plan for the day when the world economy might not be as receptive to $19k motorcycles.

I know this post sounds like MV is already closed and liquidated. Hopefully they can get their finances back in order. I know that Ducati was in this situation in '85 when Cagiva bought them, and all of the old Italian marques also went through this, it is just disheartening to see these amazing machines possibly become orphans.

-- Steve Burns (bubbie@jobe.net), November 22, 2002.

I wasn't a Ducati fan back then, but I do believe Ducati suffered the same fate under Cagiva's current leadership. I take it as a testament to the leadership ability (or lack of) of Castiglioni.

As for MV Agusta, I believe it gets it bread and butter sales from the Cagiva line. I had always thought MV Agusta was just Cagiva's crowning jewel like Ferrari was Fiat's jewel. Incidentally, Cagiva' Italian site is also down: http://www.cagiva.it/

-- Allan Gibbs (Phoenix, Arizona) (Agibbs996@aol.com), November 22, 2002.