MV Agusta braap out of lockdown and reveal their future plans
MV’s owner on superbikes, Norton and affordable new models
Setting aside the last few months of lockdown, MV Agusta have been enjoying a period of relative stability. The company are going well under the ownership of Timur Sardarov – a finance expert with a love of hyper machines. With the brand celebrating 75 years, we spoke with him to discover what he’s got up his sleeve.
But first – the elephant in the room. Like most businesses, MV Agusta were forced to suspend activities because of the pandemic but they were also one of the first to get going again, although Sardarov says it was their actions, rather than their small size, that saved the day.
“There is no difference between being public and being private, between small and big companies during a health crisis,” he told MCN. “We were very proactive in managing safety protocols and implementing all the right procedures for the government checks that allow us to open. We followed the safety measures and we’ve been very proactive with our unions and our employees to open quicker than everyone else.”
As a brand known for building luxury models, some had MV down as a possible buyer for Norton but this was never really on the cards.
“When we heard about Norton filing for bankruptcy, we just expressed interest to see what was available from the assets, but we were never seriously interested and we never put in any bids. MV Agusta itself just came out of crisis and for us it’s very important to have a focus on our important and iconic brand.”
And part of that focus revolves around their deal with Loncin to build small capacity models for the Asian market in China. Sardarov has been critical of the way previous owner AMG failed to protect the prestige of the brand, but he says that it’s different this time around.
“Right now, MV Agusta for the first time in its history has its own plan. There’s no big industrial group or investors or a different motorcycle brand that the company belongs to.
“Due to globalisation, no one can produce small capacity performance motorcycles in Europe. We would like to do it but it’s impossible, we would be uncompetitive.”
And what about the very high performance end of motorcycling? “Our F4 platform has been discontinued and we will come back to this no sooner than in five years time. Then we will enter back into the superbike series as well.”
‘For the first time in its history MV Agusta has its own plan’ TIMUR SARDAROV, OWNER