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Aprilia Group boss ,.,ano Beggio We signed the contracts in September 2000 but only after three attempts, spread over 12 years! In fact, I first registered an interest in acquiring Guzzi as long ago as 1988, when I visited the factory here at Mandello for the first time, and also went to Benelli, which De Tomaso then owned as well. In all, I met De Tomaso and his associates a total of four times over the next 12 years, each time to discuss a sale of Moto Guzzi to Aprilia. That first time, back in 1988, I offered 7 billion lire [then about $4.5 millionl just for Moto Guzzi. De Tomaso went away to think about it, and a week later he told me I could have both marques for 15 billion lire. But at that stage Aprilia didn't have the capital or the human resources to take on such a challenge, and anyway I wasn't interested in Benelli, so I declined, with thanks. We got on with our work at Aprilia, and the next contact came in 1995. By this time De Tomaso had had his unfortunate illness, but he was now associated with the Americans at Trident Rowan, so it was them I met and talked to. Their asking price was something like 50 billion lire, but I offered 22 billion - again, no deal. Then we met once more in 1998, by which time I was ready to offer 70 billion - and this time I was very serious about acquiring the company, which is why I increased my offer so much. But, very surprisingly, they still said no their expectations were apparently much higher. So then finally we tried again in 2000, in what turned out to be a secret auction between ourselves, Ducati and Piaggio. My bid was 82 billion lire [about $40 million], and this time it was accepted. From 7 billion to 82 billion in 12 years is corporate poker, and I'll admit to screwing my eyes up tight when I made the winning bid - but the reward was worth it. Moto Guzzi is a marque full of tradition and sporting success. MV Agusta may have won more world titles, but Guzzi is much longer established as a quality volume manufacturer rather than an expensive, specialist A one, and is undoubtedly Italy's premier marque. Guzzi also represents an additional path via which Aprilia may continue to grow and expand, because it was - is - a unique phenomenon in the entire motorcycle world. It's an indelible part of Italy's motorcycle heritage. was it a business decision to buy Moto Guzzi, or did the decision come from the heart? lt's true my lifelong passion as a motorcycle enthusiast for the brand which is Italy's most historic marque made me determined to acquire it and bring it back to its former glory. I've loved Moto Guzzi for as long as I've loved bikes, which is all my life, and the chance to work together with my colleagues like Roberto Brovazzo here beside me in restoring such a legendary name to its former preeminence is one I am honored to accept. However, I must also say that it also offers an attractive synergy with the Aprilia range, because Moto Guzzi represents a benchmark in the Touring, the Gran Turismo, the Naked and the Custom categories, in quite a different way and appealing to quite a different customer than Aprilia, which is a more youthful brand with a sporting flair. Thus joining Guzzi with Aprilia broadened the potential appeal of our group's products, allowing the two marques to flourish in unison without detracting from each other - on the contrary, in fact. Q A When you entered the Moto Guzzi factory for the first time after buying the company, what did you find awaiting you, and was it what you had expected? I found something that money cannot buy: history and tradition. I found a place, a product and a potential that nobody else in the world can copy - something that is essentially Guzzi. I found the proof of 80 years of technical innovation, represented in the fantastic machines of avant-garde Q A concept and such varied design here in the factory museum, including those that won 16 World Championships and more than 3400 race victories, whether with eight cylinders, four cylinders, two cylinders or one, each so brilliantly conceived and executed. This is something that the Japanese can never copy, and now our challenge, our intention, our dream is to give continued life to this history by re-establishing Moto Guzzi in a modern context, but while respecting the traditions of the past. Okay - but history and tradition are abstract concepts, compared to the reality of an aging production facility hemmed in by the lake on one side and the mountains on the other, which needed serious money to be spent on updating it, without any space for further expansion. lt's true. I found a living museum, a factory still producing motorcycles which had not substantially changed since the 1950s, and was thus locked in a kind of time warp, with walls that were crumbling, ancient buildings, outmoded production facilities, an elderly product line, a quality of manufacture that was anything but excellent - really, it was a business which needed to be completely restored from top to bottom. But the fundamental thing is that this restoration could be carried out on something that was real, that existed, that needed only new life breathed into it. What we have done here is to give Mandello a facelift, rather like a beautiful lady of a certain age who needs some wrinkles and lines removed to be even more lovely than ever! So, while this link with the past was one of Moto Guzzi's greatest assets, internally our goal has been to modernize Mandello completely and to re-equip it with the latest technology, modern machine tools, the latest-generation assembly lines, all while externally retaining the traditional appearance of the buildings. It has been projected to be as efficient and productive as our new Aprilia plant at Scorze, with a capacity of manufacturing 30,000 bikes a year, only functioning within the historic shell of the old structure, and a key element in making this work successfully will be the Guzzi workforce, for whom I have the greatest respect. They are helping us with continuous improvement of our production facilities by means of the Kai Zen system we have in operation, which allows their suggestions to become reality, and it's because of their love of the marque and commitment to keeping the Mandello eagle flying high, that Moto Guzzi still exists today only, sadly, they did not have managers supervising them who had an equal faith in the marque, and loyalty to it. We have brought in a complete new management team composed of experienced professionals with a proven track record in the motorcycle sector. Q A When you took over Moto Guzzi, what new models did you find under development, and have you continued to work on them since then, or did you prefer to start all over again with new products? zero. There was absolutely nothing. No genuine new engine designs, no new model concepts. The company was on a life support system, only kept alive by breathing oxygen out of air bottles. It was already essentially dead. Q A Q So how did you decide to resuscitate the patient, and what have you done since then to achieve this? 24 DECEMBER 1 1 ,2002' c u e • .. neVlls