Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Iioni relations campaign aimed at promoting the things you have rather than the products you make and sell. A motorcyclist at the other end of the world from us here in Italy, say, in japan, or Australia, or the USA - he doesn't care about all this. He wants a bike that is well engineered, well made, reliable and exclusive - one which marks him out as a person of taste and which delivers a unique satisfaction in riding it that no other marque can offer. That's what MV Agusta provides now, and will build on for the future. It's not just enough to have money. to have capital resources - if you don't have the right products, you're doomed to failure. If you don't have it today, money can perhaps be found tomorrow - but if you don't have the right blend of motorcycle models, it will take you a minimum of three years to do anything about that, if indeed you can, and even then you must take great care to understand what the market is looking for. I believe this is one of the great strengths of our company, that we have been able to identify the models our customers want and to meet those aspirations. We plan to intensify that process in the future with the greater resources we now have behind us. But will those resources also require you to he"ease production to levels which threaten the exclusivity of the MY Agusta brand? After all, Proton is a volume production car manufacturer. How many bikes did MV build last year, and what are your future aims? We manufactured exactly 22,700 bikes altogether last year, and in 200S will increase this to 30,000 models, progreSSively increasing production over the next three or four years to a total of 40,000 units annually, split between our three marques. rrhe year] 2004 was a record year for MV Agusta production, with 6000 bikes produced - but we won't be increasing that number significantly in the future, maybe to an annual ceiling of around 8000 bikes at the most. I know the market is hungry for more MVs, but quite apart from the fact that we cannot manufacture any more bikes than we are currently doing with our present facilities and tooling [the MV engine shop building the firm's radial-valve fourcylinder motors is currently running on a 24/24 tripleshift basis, producing 30 engines per day], perhaps we also don't want to - or should I say, ought not to. MV is and must remain the Ferrari of motorcycles: Ferrari makes wonderful high-performance cars of great allure and high cost, which are by definition exclusive products for a small but selective customer base. They can't and won't increase volume for the sake of it, nor will they lower prices. MV Agusta will follow the same route, rather than follow in the paths of others who 40 FEBRUARY 9,2005 • CYCLE NEWS have made strategic errors in positioning their company and its products in the marketplace. Ferrari has understood that it must never increase production beyond a certain point, must never entirely satisfy the demand for its products. Manufacturing only a limited number of bikes each year, as we are now doing, is what stimulates the high level of inherent quality and the sophisticated technology of our products. Variable induction, radial valves, let alone Tamburini's unique styling and leading-edge chassis design - all these are what differentiate our products from those made in japan, and limiting production to levels where we can deliver the finest quality as well as this high level of technology to our customers is what makes our motorcycles so desirable. Granted, their cost is higher than the japanese eqUivalent, but that's a mark of their desirability, precisely becaljse we do not cheapen their image via the economy of scale, which allows the japanese to sell at a lower price. But this isn't a strategy that you plan to dopt as well for Husqvarna, is it? Almost unnoticed, Husqvarna has revolutionized its product range - not only from a point of view of styling, but the engipes Iso have all peen completely revised. I've been able to spend more time ysel working on the brand r.ecently, which I wasn't oft n able to do in the past, and I'm"glad to say reliability has now become one of the marque's grellt strengths vis-a-vis its customers. But now we need to work on the 250 four-stroke, as well as make the Single-cam 610 easier and more convenient to ride - certainly, we must fit an electric start. But we will shortly introduce some very exciting new Husqvarna models, which we've had in the pipeline for some time, waiting for the right moment to launch them, which has now come with the entry of Proton into the company. With these, we will completely revolutionize the entire dirt bike concept in a way that has never been done before. Wait and see' Presumably you're referring to KTM - but does this mean Husqvarna intends to develop a twincylinder on/off-road range, too? There's every pOSSibility that Husqvarna will develop a twin-cylinder motorcycle. The only question is, what kind of twin-cylinder bike? There are so many potential ways in which to position such a model, from hard enduro through to adventure tourer, even 100-percent tarmac models like a Naked sports. My intention is to develop a twin-cylinder Husqvarna with all the traditional qualities and sporting traditions of the marque. How about Cagiva? Although it's your own family company, it seems ~t's been sidelined for some years while you focused on keeping MV and Husqvama afloat. Does it form part of the Proton tai

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