I've heard that the Piaggio deal has fallen through.

Can anyone confirm this?

-- Ehab Allam (ehab@allam-marine.com), August 19, 2002

Answers

I dunno, but if I had a dollar for every time I heard a rumor like this I'd be able to buy an SPR by now.

-- C. Eden (biospeck@mindspring.com), August 19, 2002.

If ya'll here anything, keep me posted also

-- T (tabari.thompson@lakenheath.af.mil), August 21, 2002.

Well, heard from the local MV Agusta dealer that the deal felt through, as you write. Being interested to buy a baby raptor next year, this sucks pretty much. He mentioned also that some investor could come in, so stay tuned.

-- Eric Birrer (ebirrer@hotmail.com), September 03, 2002.

The Piaggio deal indeed did not make it. There are now a couple of new investors.MV's Cagiva's and Husqvarna's are rolling of the production lines on this very moment.Hopefully MV's financial situation is now strong enough to go into a bright future.

-- Frans Tuin (fransjulie@zonnet.nl), September 12, 2002.

The latest news I've seen is this link from 3 September 2002:

http://www2.varesenews.it/articoli/2002/settembre/economia/3-9cagiva.h tm

Production is still shut down because the Piaggio deal fell through and the workers unemployment compensation is about to run out.

Will Creedon

-- will creedon (creedon@cts.com), September 13, 2002.

according to a group of people who visited the factory recently,production lines were running ,and there was alot of activity in the factory.And my dealer (in Holland) said he finally received the bikes he ordered from the factory.But from MV you never know.....,if you have any further information,please let me know.cheers.

-- frans tuin (fransjulie@zonnet.nl), September 15, 2002.

I certainly hope they did find a new investor in the last couple of weeks (since the latest Varese News article), and that they re-started production. That'd be great.

When you say your contact visited the "factory", do you know which ones? There are three factories building different products. Castiglioni was going to retain only the oldest factory in the Piaggio previous deal, and build only MVs. It would be interesting to know if that remains the strategy with another investor. Also whether Piaggio is going to completely give up on the idea of Gilera branded/engined Raptors and Navigators, or cooperate with Cagiva in some other way.

With Cagiva business is always a soap opera. Perhaps the current situation will become more clear at the Intermot.

All the best,

Will

-- will creedon (creedon@cts.com), September 15, 2002.

the people who visited the factory,had a great time.you can read their story on the MV forum of yahoo groups.Do you expect anything spectacular on the intermot, like an F4 1000? I remember the intermot two years ago,where MV presented the brutale S, not even one brutale is produced since then...the same with the SPR.well anyway let's see what happens... bye for now , Frans.

-- frans tuin (fransjulie@zonnet.nl), September 17, 2002.