CA-GI-VA !!! VI-VA speriamo! Si. The varese factory is closed, employees are stranded, and meeting with Italian labor authorities. Castiglioni is a busnessman and industrialist he sees an opportunity for business again....... makes sense to me.
This is also interesting news. http://www.cycleworld.com/2013/06/21/scoop-massimo-bordi-out-of-mv-agusta/ No official announcement has been made yet, but we have learned that MV Agusta has not renewed the contract of Massimo Bordi, who has already left his CEO post and retired. Bordi had been hired by the late Claudio Castiglioni, who was aware of the limited time he still had to share with his son Giovanni to whom he had already transferred the position of President of MV Agusta. Claudio thought that Bordi, through his long experience in the motorcycling industry, would help Giovanni strengthen his managerial capabilities and steer MV Agusta toward better profitability. That task was fully accomplished, and Giovanni proved a very capable manager with a clear view of the MV Agusta role in the world motorcycle market, as the recent MV models have proved. In addition, Giovanni is a passionate motorcyclist, which Massimo Bordi never was, and this is a fundamental quality in the motorcycling business. Massimo is a brilliant engineer, his work at Ducati and with the MV-Augusta F4 & F3 speaks for itself. It is sad to hear he is leaving MV-Augusta. I guess he just wanted to see the F4 / F3 delivered to honor Claudio's memory then retire. It is fascinating to see where this all ends up, - Will BMW start to release kymco based off-road bikes built by TVS in India? - Will SP & Husqvarna rebuild the brand image then start releasing bikes built by Bajaj in India to compete with BMW? - Will MV-Augusta re-enter the off-road dual sport/adventure market with a new Cagiva to compete with BMW or SP/Husky - built in the old Husky factory in India?
There must be a lot of angry Italians wanting an Italian built dirt bike. Can Beta handle the load? TM seems to want to stay small. Aprilia seems to be best on the street. An RXV with big-bang ignition seems slightly overkill in 2nd/3rd gear woods and I wouldn't want to make a scratch on such a beautiful piece of equipment . I bet a Cagiva would be well received .
For me, at least, after watching the Husqvarana company fall into the hands of MV, then go to bmw, and now to this ktm group, it is about 100% true, to me at least, that it is very hard for a bike company can stand on its own ...There has to be backing from a big parent pocket book ... (Harley might be an exception to this rule ... maybe others I'm un-aware of) -- Now ask yourself, using the saga Husky has went through in the last couple decades as a recent example, with all the parts, supply and distribution issues bmw dealt with with their deep pockets and knowledge, ... do you really think a small company like beta, could ever grow to a greater size such as the bike selling leaders of today? Would you want to attempt this as their owner? Do you wanna invest millions in this effort and wait yrs to see it grow with all your money on the line each yr? Best these small guys will accomplish is a buyout by a larger company (as shown with Husky) ... Or better yet, make a few good bikes each yr and enjoy your business and bikes ... Hope to get a young rider to win a championship before he moves on to the bigger bucks companies ... -- And this has nothing to do with the end product ... Making the 100% best dirt bike in the world does not mean sales success ... -- EDIT: I'll stick with the fact that Huskies were not raced enough in the publics' eye through the yrs to push the sales past the ~10,000 sales number ... Maybe with this better advertising, MV could have held on to the brand? ... Just water under the bridge now. Bring on the new Husqvarna 450 MX racer and lets see it on the big stage running at the front of the pack ..
Is it a bad thing for a company to stay a certain size as opposed to getting bigger? As far as I can tell, Beta seems to be 'right sized', without bringing in a set number of bikes each year which would need to be sold at a discount at the end of the model year, which as far as I am concerned is the Achilles heal for a company with regards to profit. Sorry, I know that has nothing to do with the "Actual news on the ktm purchase of Husqvarna" which is the title of this thread, so my post is off topic.
Yes, this is what Beta seems to want, very little discounting. I talked to Dave Turner in Morongo Valley and he said he didn't order enough bikes last year. Hopefully they will up production a bit in anticipation of higher demand and sales after some good press and racing results.
They under estimated how many 2 strokes they would sell, so they built another batch. They are light on their feet. They also do not want to stick dealers with more than they can sell.
The local Kawi importer is popular with resellers because they say they are good to deal with, and the resellers gladly push the brand. One major KTM reseller took the bullet and ordered the full range of katooms as ordered by their new contract. They still have much of those 2011 bikes in stock and at full retail. Sure, the 250-300 exc's and 250-350excf's are gone. Interested in a 2011 350sxf at retail? I can guve you a number to call. Why not be nice to the resellers so that they want to sell your brand? "Channel stuffing" must leave a bad taste with resellers.
Channel stuffing is exactly what the Husqvarna bmw folks had been doing, especially under the Corona regime. Prior to bmw, as far as I can tell at least circa 2006-2007, Husqvarna dumped whatever it did not sell to Heinen's in MN to sell at less than 1/2 price of msrp, or occasionally to some place in Australia. Personally I prefer the Beta approach, which appears to me to be, build what people want as opposed to a set number of bikes. Remember, I have no inside info on Beta, it just appears that is what they are doing.
Probably much EZer at far smaller volumes. Also spoke to one Beta dealer that could not get a bike for a customer. So it happens at both ends.
I recall a quote from a Mercedes executive many years ago; something to the effect of "the goal is to produce exactly one (1) less car than the market wants"...
Beta try's to make sure they don't over build, so bikes don't get discounted at the end of the year. They sold many more 2 strokes than they thought they would, so they built another batch. As of 2 weeks ago they were out of 300's again, 5 250rr's were available and one or two 4 strokes left. For all I know these are gone by now. Beta of Italy will be on holiday for the month of August (nice!), then they will get busy producing the 2014's, should be here in september- october I would think.
Trying not to overbuild bikes for a few hundred or a low 1000 bikes would certainly be lots easier that trying to build bikes for several thousands \ 10s of thousands of bikes for customers ...ESP if you are trying to grow the sales numbers upward and you will need excessive bikes on hand ... This goes along with a point I was trying to make on small companies trying to grow to the size of the major players we see today ... ktm , honda, ... can afford extra bikes sitting ... some small guy can't afford this possibility ...Small guys numbers have to be tight ... Under selling might be better than investing in several thousand dollars in dust collectors. EDIT: Read once where when ktm went belly up the 1st time, their sells dropped 20,000 bikes in one yr or something to that effect ... Please correct these numbers if you have better data ... But 20,000 or so bikes at a cost of $4,000 to build it at the factory = 80MIL lost PLUS all the other things associated with it ... Like if nothing else, what are you gonna do with all the extras? Store them or melt them down? Just a MIL$ nightmare really ..
What exactly is an American off road team? Possibly a team of highly skilled racers not fit to race the standard cookie cut mindless man made tracks. A team whom can succeed at both challenging and dangerous events. And those who can overcome obstacles of mechanical failure, invent, design, manufacture and push forward with new technology independently? I went to school in Corona, California some time ago, it used to be the up in up new developing city, it was a pleasant place to work. But it became clouded with the old ways of doing things. I spent many summers in my new found love Murrieta and that evening breeze that flows in from the ocean keeps me close to family and makes it a new found paradise, a court yard of innovation.
What exactly is an American off road team? Possibly a team of highly skilled racers not fit to race the standard cookie cut mindless man made tracks. A team whom can succeed at both challenging and dangerous events. And those who can overcome obstacles of mechanical failure, invent, design, manufacture and push forward with new technology independently? I can sum that up in 1 word ..... ZipTy
Maybe we might see the return of Zip Ty as for Captain I just want to race That is why I like Off Road just me and my bike
