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INTERVIEW I GENERAL MANAGER, MV AGUSTA NORTH AMERICA, LUCA DOVESI
The deal was struck in March
of this year, with Pierer Mobility
AG purchasing a controlling 50.1
percent stake in MV Agusta from
Sardarov, who retained a 49.9
percent holding. Hubert Trunken
-
polz (the "T" in KTM) was thus
installed
as MV Agusta's CEO
while Sardarov was moved to the
position of Vice-Chairman, Brand
Ambassador and Consultant.
KTM's plans with MV Agusta
are clear: to position the brand
as the number-one destination
for high-end, luxury motorcycles.
Trunkenpolz himself stated he
does not believe any MV Agusta
should come with a price tag
around $27,200, and production
will be capped to 10,000 units
worldwide with no exceptions.
A major part of this rejuvena
-
tion is reestablishing the brand
in the U.S., so we sat down
with
General Manager, MV Agusta
North America, Luca Dovesi, to
see how the plan is coming along.
MV Augusta is almost start
-
ing from the ground up in North
America.
What have been some
of the challenges that you've
seen so far in getting the brand
back up and running here?
The biggest challenge is try
-
ing to change the perception of
the brand.
The reputation of the
brand was badly affected in the
past. Something different is when
you have a startup, a new com-
pany, a new brand, and everything
is new.
People are excited. They
don't have any hard, bad feelings
of the past. Now, when we came
here and took over the MV Agusta
project, it was really bad. Bad
management, bad reputation, bad
media experience, bad customer
experience. The network was re
-
Paris-Dakar legend
Edi Orioli's own
limited-edition LXP
adventure model
marks the high point
in the segment for
MV Agusta.
ally in bad shape. So that is
my biggest challenge.
I
want the people to change the
bad opinion of MV Agusta from the
past. This is even harder than in
Europe, because in Europe, being
centralized in Italy, the brand was a
The Varese plant
will see significant
financial input from
Pierer Mobility
AG, but production
capacity will be
capped at 10,000
units worldwide.
