Sounded to me like they are only closing the plant where they are made and transferring it to the other plant in Noale. Either way it does suck.
Good catch. I did not see that when I first read it, thought all the dirt bikes were going to cease to be manufactured.
Wonder how/if any of the speculative talent flight from Aprillia would benefit Husqvarna? Sorry to hear there had to be changes... If I've been reading right there has been some progress in improving QA challenges seen in some of the bikes. Obviously the Team being broken up could be a loss to the Aprillia brand, but possibly a gain for Husky?... not that we'd want to see the TE as a Twin (Well, or would we?).
Guys, You must be kidding me. Dont you realize who these guys are? Dont you remember the HUGE $%#@ storm in '02/'03 and how these guys played it out? Piaggio nearly put MV and Husky out of business in a VERY hostile take over bid. They stole these engineers, and their designs, and thats where the twin Aprilia comes from. That Aprilia twin IS A HUSQVARNA! Designed by Husky, stolen by these ex-Husky guys and delivered to Aprilia. They picked the wrong side. If they tried that in the states they would have had a big ol lawsuit coming there way. Cracks me up they will be hitting up their old bosses for work. Tails between there legs. I'm guessing the newer Husky riders might not know this little bit of our history. Its worth a deeper explanation than i can give. I was a Honda guy, but i followed the story a bit. Maybe Norm or Blip or someone wants to step up. I know there is lots more to it, including some connection with the Cagiva twin elefants and Dakar way way back. Not saying its bad for Husky, i think its good. Personally i think the off road effort for that twin is a complete waist of money, not unlike the BMW450 effort.
Mike, there's a lot more to this story and I'm not going to rehash any of it, but what i will say it would be extremely beneficial for Husqvarna/BMW to at least talk to Ampelio Mecchi. It was the team of Massimo Tamburini (Design Guru) and Ampelio Mecchi (Engineering Guru) that was the passion behind Ducati, Cagiva, MV Agusta and Husqvarna. There's two sides of the story and we should really thank BMW for stepping up and acquiring the Husqvarna brand! At least now Husqvarna is safely in the hands of a company that has the financial resources to allow the brand to grow and be great once again. BlipBlip/HuskyRips
You want to get into that sort of thing, look back a little further. KTM four stroke DNA can be traced all the way back to the original Husky thumper. When Cagiva bought Husky some of the guru's of the four stroke design stayed in Sweden and started Husaberg. When KTM decided to go four stroke they bought Husaberg, basically to get that technology by buying the people who created it from the beginning. And they reinvented the Husky four stroke for a 3rd time. IMO- Husky DNA has been the base for most of the European dirt bike market success for the past 20 years.
Im sure there are two sides, or more. I would love to hear more about both! My understanding was that these guys jumped ship from MV/Husky to Piaggio/Aprillia before the 'deal' was done. Then when it fell apart, they were the only bits that changed hands. That alone was in some ways forgivable. What their motivation was is not hard to guess. But still, its only a guess. But when they went and built the V twin Aprillia that they had started working on at MV/Husky, well that is just taking it a bit too far, IMO. I mean, that is gonna be hard to stomach. Maybe with Tamborini and Castiglioni gone the main 'resistance' to these guys coming back is also gone. Hey if they come back, maybe they can build another V twin, and make it more reliable. I worked for a large engineering/manufacturing firm in N. Italy. We had stuff like this happen. In the end, engineers could and did jump ship, only to return years later. I'm sure we will see some of these guys back on our team. Besides, who wants to live in Veneto? (j/k)
Me too. I've been waiting for some "Husqvarna History" to be discussed... If a well written neutral summary, suitable for someone that knows nothing at all about these things, can be written then I'd really like to put that information in the "Husqvarna History" section. My best guess at the moment is that the "Husqvarna History" section will be read only with discussion threads in the main or news forum - like the Tech Ref section. It would be good to archive things for the people yet to come.
The more I read on the history of Husky the more I want to know. I think if a non bias report could be written on all this it would be great to put it into the "Husqvarna History" section. Can you imagine a 750 twin Husky. That would be my next bike.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm use the new 250 ultra lightweight engine in V configuration making a new TE 510 weighing in the same as the current 510, or maybe even lighter??
If someone was going to write a non bias "Husqvarna History"... it would have to be WRITTEN on the product alone! Personally, I say let's just let things roll the way they're going now. Ever since BMW bought Husqvarna the drama is all but gone and everything is moving in a much more positive direction. In 2 years Husqvarna will be the top dirt bike brand in the world and hopefully the Cagiva name will be a small foot note in this great brands history. Just something to think about.
Well, actually, it lives in the guise of the Highland 950/750 V2. Originally designed by Folan, a small Swedish engineering outfit that did a variety of projects for HVA [including the 500 2T twin in the 70's], it was bought up by the Highland guys, who included the former Head design engineer for HVA [with an interim stop at Husaberg following the sale of Husky bikes to Cagiva], and the former Prez. of [Swedish] Husky USA. Had Electrolux not bought HVA and sold off the bike unit to the Italians, it's very likely the Folan motor would have been been done by HVA for its bikes.
Watch for Gunnar Lindstrom's book Former Husqvarna factory rider and employee Gunnar Lindstrom has been working on the definitive history of Husqvarna covering the brand from the mid 1950s to the Cagiva takeover. We are in discussion right now to add a chapter on the Italian era and the latest developments but for sure the glory days of Husky will be covered like no other when his book comes out. He has done extensive research and interviewed all the major players during the period. It should be awesome. It will most likely be out by summer 2010. Scot
It would still be nice to have some highlights for the CH people to read though. Sort of an abridged version.... for the random person that wants to spend 2 minutes getting some background of the brand - a lot of confusion out there. "You ride a chainsaw?"
The whole Italian husky era is like a soap opera where 4-5 guys share a girlfriend and pass her around. Very sorted and fun to read about. I'd like the thank the core people Blip mentioned for having the vision, no matter where they were, to design and bring european machinery to where it is today. It's a shame nothing like this happened here in the states with all the innovators we had. Speaking of which I think Folan designed the original and great motor destined for the Cannondale project before the suspension boys thought they could build a motor and killed the company. Fun stuff.
