MV Agusta on Its Own Again

MV Agusta officially announced that the make is back under the control of the Russian Sardarov family that had acquired it from Giovanni Castiglioni at the end of 2016. When in 2024 Pierer Mobility acquired MV Agusta, Sardarov became 49 percent minority partners and now that Pierer Mobility removed itself from the brand after insolvency and restructuring, they are back in full control. This short note from MV Agusta press department is the only real, solid information available at this time. All the rest was gossip.

Pierer Mobility never sold MV Agusta to the Sardarovs partners, they just withdrew from the partnership and the Sardarovs just resumed their former position. The present state of the financial standing of MV Agusta is unknown, but to set the factory back in full activity, the Sardarovs will need to pour more of their family capital into the company, as they have been doing since they became majority partners in 2017. In 2018 the Sardarovs put down 40 million euros to recapitalize MV Agusta and close the Chapter 11 procedure that saved Castiglioni’s MV Agusta from bankruptcy.

Now the Sardarovs are going to face a task that might be heavier than in the past. MV Agusta must be totally refreshed because Pierer Mobility took both the basic materials, component warehouse, and a large share of the motorcycle stock to Austria. Everything is coming home now, but it will take time to set everything back where it belongs. But this is just the beginning of a return to full operation conditions after the sour experience with Pierer Mobility. Mr. Timur Sardarov and his family will have to invest another substantial amount of money to positively restart the production flywheel, from the R&D department to tooling, machining, and assembly lines.

The Sardarovs’ capital is enormous, based on the international commerce of natural gas and oil. But rumor has it that Timur might be evaluating the possibility of a new partnership. His Black Ocean Investment Group is based at the London Stock Exchange which means that Sardarov has plenty of opportunities to establish positive business partnerships with the best in the financial world.

How attractive those in the financial world might find the prospect of investing money in MV Agusta today is a different question. But still the Sardarovs have the financial power to do it by themselves if need be. MV Agusta now must renew its model line. Its 800cc three-cylinder sportbikes are very good bikes, the engine is strong, fast, and reliable, and the chassis matches those virtues. But still it belongs to a displacement class where competitors are priced much lower and consequently production numbers have never reached the level needed to generate an income. A three-cylinder middle class bike cannot be priced like a superbike, no matter the name.

Hopes are focused on the new MV Agusta 1000 Superveloce Serie Oro, a real superbike that will be certainly priced so that each unit will bring a significant profit. Happily the engine has been radically revised and improved by Dr. Brian Gillen to make it one of the most powerful on the market with reliability needed from a modern sportbike.

But, again, 1000 SuperVeloce Serie Oro is still at the prototype stage, and the LXP Enduro Veloce adventure bike has reached the market in limited numbers. There is a lot of fog over the Schiranna factory. But if we look deeper at MV Augusta’s history, all the way back to the early years after World War I, we discover that the brand has always found a way to move forward. From the Paris Peace Treaties forbidding any aeronautical construction in post-World War II in Italy and Count Domenico seeing the need for cheap, easy transportation—thus motorcycles—to the infusion of capital in the 1950s from a Bell Helicopters contract to the death of the count and subsequent sale of the brand, stops and starts have been numerous. The longest pause was 1977 to 1997 when Claudio Castiglioni was driven by genuine passion as a fan of MV Agusta Racing and brought MV Agusta into the Castigioni collection of brands that included Cagiva, Ducati, Moto Morini, and Husqvarna. The F4 arrived for sale in 1999, designed by the great Massimo Tamburini.

In the early 2000s financial issues plagued the brand, and in 2008 Harley-Davidson bought MV Agusta only to sell it back to the Castiglioni family for one euro. In 2017 Sardarov’s Comstar Invest became a shareholder before acquiring ownership in 2019 with Sardarov named as CEO. Now, after the short relationship with Pierer Mobility, it’s up to Sardarov yet again.