INTERVIEW
MV AGUSTA'S GIOVANNI CASTIGLIONI
P72
improved production facilities—
in October 2009, Harley an-
nounced its intention to dispose
of MV Agusta at the same time
it shut down its Buell subsid-
iary. In the end, Harley sold MV
Agusta back to the Castiglioni
family for a nominal three euros
(or four bucks) and actually paid
them to take it off their hands by
putting $26 million in an escrow
account to provide the Italian
company with operating capital
for the next year. Harley's 16
months of MV Agusta ownership
is widely thought to have cost
the Motor Company upwards of
$250 million. And now, Mer-
cedes-Benz will stand to benefit
from that American largesse.
Due to his father's ill-health,
it was Giovanni Castiglioni who
negotiated the repurchase of
MV from the Americans, and
eventually took over the reins of
the company in August 2010.
Since then, he's worked tire-
lessly and astutely in restoring
MV Agusta to what many see as
its proper place as the Ferrari
of motorcycles–starting with the
2012 launch of the acclaimed
three-cylinder 675cc F3, which
his late father had played such a
key role in creating. This in turn
has yielded a series of spinoff
models such as the Brutale,
Rivale, Dragster and recently an-
nounced Stradale, all powered
by the acclaimed 800cc ver-
sion of the three-cylinder motor.
The buoyant brand's sales have
ramped up spectacularly. And in
2014 MV Agusta finally returned
to the racetrack with its own
factory race team. French rider
Jules Cluzel spearheaded an
assault on the World Supersport
Championship and won three of
the eleven races to finish runner-
up in the final points table and is
the early favorite to take the title
in the coming season.
MV Agusta looks to the World
Superbike Championship
to further its R&D with Leon
Camier (pictured) at the helm in
Superbike and Jules Cluzel in
Supersport.
