VOL. 53 ISSUE 21 JUNE 1, 2016 P87
F3 675 triple, and Britain's Leon
Camier racing a four-cylinder MV
Agusta F4RR in the World Super-
bike Series.
This commercial and sporting
success led to speculation that MV
Agusta would be a takeover target
for one of the major motorcycle
manufacturers, or at various times
a juicy prize for Russian/Chinese/
Indian/Arab investors. In the end,
it turned out to be none of the
above, when it was announced in
October 2014 that Mercedes-Benz
would be acquiring a 25 percent
stake in the Italian motorcycle com-
pany, under its performance brand
AMG. However, while MV Agusta
sales have continued to boom,
with turnover exceeding 100 million
Euro for the first time in 2015, the
company has this year found itself
struggling with cash flow problems
which have forced it to cut back on
production, and lay off a proportion
of its 280-strong workforce while it
seeks to restructure itself.
The chance to quiz Giovanni
Castiglioni directly on how this
transpired, and his plans for turn-
ing the company around, came in
his office in MV Agusta's lakeside
factory at Schiranna on the out-
skirts of Varese, under the gaze
of his father as depicted in an
oil painting on the wall, a bronze
sculpture on the table, and copi-
ous items of memorabilia relating
to the man in whose footsteps his
son is currently walking.
