Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pendent operations like our frame-manufacturing company, Cagiva Telaii and, of course, our remaining intereSt in Ducati. I notice that list didn't include Morini. ? • Why. Morini now belongs to Ducati Motor it's a Bolognese marque, and it seemed appropriate that it should stay there when·we split the company. But I don't believe Ducati-has any plans to revive the name, at least in the foreseeable future, while in the case of MY Agusta, that still remains in my own back pocket, to be reintroduced when the time is right. By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kyoichi Nakamura and Cathcart 26 agiva's sale of a maj9rity shareholding in their Ducati subsidiary to American inves!ment house TPG for a reputed SDO billion lire (about $320 million) may well be the motorcycle deal of the decade - but, like many such transactions, it raises more questions than it resolves. What were the "Circumstances that drove Cagiva boss Claudio Castiglioni and his brother Gianfranco to forfeit control of the company that today is arguably Europe's most prestigious motorcycle marque, winner of the World Superbike title in six out of the last seven years, with a street bike range that's backordered for months? What does Life After Ducati hold for the other makes in the Castiglioni empire - not only Cagiva itself, but Husqvarna, Morini and MY Agusta, too? Will the capital accrued from the sale of Ducati unlock production of the long-awaited four-cylinder Cagiva F4 Superbike, as well as the other new models in the Cagiva portfolio that have been sidelined while the cash-starved company battled for survival?, An.d when, if ever, will we see CagiFinally, the younger of the two Casva back on the race tracks again - either tiglioni brothers, who has assumed sole in SOOcc Grand Prix racing or World personal control of the Cagiva Group's .Superbike? For the past eight months, motorcycle operation whi)e brother since the TPG deal was done, SO-yearGianfranco takes over responsibility for old Claudio Castiglioni has resisted the other businesses in the family every effort by any journalist to perempire, decided that enough was suade him to talk on the record about all enough: The time had come to speak this. Perhaps as a result, rumors' surout. rounding Cagiva's current financial I received a phone call from Italy the position and future prospects, ranging day before I was to leave for the openfrom. mere conjecture to vile innuendo, ing European round of have run rife in the the '97 World SuperItalian press and been " ...we are creating the prodUcts bike series; soon I reported around the would be heading that people will want to buy, we globe, fueling speculanorth from Milan Airtion that the Cashave the work force that is ready to port to Cagiva's laketiglioni family might ""ild them, and the cash to nud", it side factory at Varese, ' be ready to bail out of possible to do so. " rather than south to bikes altogether, or the Misano race cirelse that they needed cuit, for a no-holdsto sell another chunk barred talk - on the record - with the of equity in one or more of their other Cagiva boss about all aspects of his marques in order to keep them afloat. company's past, present and future. Every week seemed to bring a new Six hours of frank and sometimes addition to the Cagiva rumor mill, each emotional discussion later, I had the one more plausible yet more fantastic gospel according to Claudio - with an than the last - but all equally neither hour's break to stretch our legs by walkconfirmed nor denied, thanks to Clauing over to the Cagiva R&D shop to Ilook dio Castiglioni's self-irnposed'silence. "TPG of itself will invest precisely nothing. " • at the several exciting new prototypes on which his army of technicians was working, as well as the chance to ride around the factory yard in second gear on the prototype F4 Superbike, and to photograph it before factory tester Latini set off to top up the 30,ODO-kilometer test mileage that the four-cylinder bike has already covered prior to its launch at the Milan Show in September. For Cagiva, the futu,re starts here. Now, listen to how and why it came about. Bottom line first, Claudio. How secure a future does Cagiva have? Is the company financially viable - and are you still in full control? Yes, and yes. In November 1996, we founded a new company, Cagiva Motor, which is wholly owned by the Castiglioni family, into which every part of the Cagiva Group that concerns motorcycles has now been placed. This includes not only Cagiva, Husqvarna and MV Agusta; but also the two CRC design studios in San Marino; headed by Massimo Tamburini, and here in Varese under the direction of Miguel Angel Galluzzi. It also includes inde· But, back to Cagiva: Everyone says nobody's working at Varese, the company is dead, extinct - but, as you can see for yourself, that's not the case. It's true we had to layoff many of our assemblyline workers temporarily, but production here in Varese has never ceased at any time since we took the factory over from Harley-Davidson on October 17, 1978. Slowed down, yes, but stopped never. We are now in full production, building Husqvarnas as well as military Cagiva models for the French and Italian forces, and the trucks outside fhis window are loading product for delivery to customers. But all through the past difficult months we always kept our development staff working and design projects continuing, preparing the new models which will enable Cagiva to continue its recovery, to become what it formerly was - the largest European motorcycle group, as opposed to primarily a scooter-assembly operation, like Aprilia. That won't happen just because I say it will, but because we are creating the products that people will want to buy, we have the work force that is ready to build them, and the cash to make it possible to do so. We went through some very bad times, but now Cagiva is on the way back up - just as Ducati is in the process of doing, with our participation. But aren't you now merely a silent . partner in Ducati, after the TPG takeover? Isn't it the Americans who are calling the shots, ·as a reflection of the fact they're pumping the much-

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