Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 20, 2015 P77 Agusta will further enhance Mercedes-AMG's leadership in the high-performance segment, by providing them with an entry to the motorcycling equivalent of their four-wheeled customer base. Did they originally seek to buy the entire company from you–for MV Agusta to become a wholly owned sub- sidiary of Mercedes- AMG? No, we didn't ever dis- cuss that, for the simple reason that I won't sell MV outright, and they knew from the start that this was not on the table. I like to develop and manufacture motor- cycles, and I'm enjoying myself doing so. In that case, why did you sell even 25 percent of MV Agusta, knowing this will inevitably lead to an automotive giant look- ing over your shoulder while you run the company? Because we can push MV Agusta forward harder and faster with them aboard. Look, this has become a very successful com- pany in a relatively short time. It was already Italy's most historic motorcycle brand—perhaps the world's most historic brand with 75 World Championships and 270 Grand Prix victories—but we sometimes forget the extreme nature of the task that faced our family in restarting MV Agusta 20 years ago. When we sold Ducati in 1996 it was making about 30,000 bikes a year, after producing less than 3,000 a year when we acquired it just over a decade earlier. But in the case of MV we started with zero units of annual produc- tion. Today, MV is almost up to Not at this stage. That's not the purpose of our teaming up. Can you confirm how much Mercedes-AMG paid you to obtain 25 percent of MV Agusta? I could, but sorry, I won't. We're not disclosing that. It's a private matter. You say you will never sell MV Agusta, but would you sell Mercedes-AMG an extra 24 percent to bring more capital into the business, while re- taining a majority share- holding, just as Stefan Pierer and his partner have done at KTM, retaining a 51% equity in the holding company, while their Bajaj partner has 47%, or Erik Buell at EBR, with 51% while selling Hero MotoCorp 49%? No, there's no point do- ing that. Look, my objec- tive is to make MV grow. I'm not a private equity guy, so I'm not interested in speculating in the company, in trying to maxi- mize my take from MV. I want to make MV grow as a company, but in the right way and for the right reasons. I want to win the World Supersport Champion- ship. I want to make beautiful bikes, and I want to take MV to an even higher level in terms of the bikes we build. And by the way, I think we should only build a few bikes each year, not look for constantly greater volume "IT'S ALSO AN HONOR FOR ME TO HAVE MERCEDES-AMG AS MY PARTNER, MY MARRIED PARTNER IN BUSINESS, EVEN AS A MINORITY 25 PERCENT SHAREHOLDER IN MV AGUSTA. IT DOESN'T OFTEN HAPPEN THAT AN INDUSTRIAL GIANT BUYS A MINORITY STAKE IN A FAMILY- OWNED BUSINESS, BUT THAT'S WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE." producing 10,000 bikes a year. So I think we did a good job of restarting it completely from scratch, but we can do much more with the proper resources. MV's potential is extremely high, but we lack brand awareness in some countries, and in others a proper sales network. Uniting with Mercedes-AMG can act as a boost factor in taking the com- pany forward commercially. Will the Germans also help you with technical develop- ment?

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