Bye bye Buell, MV Agusta for sale
Added on Friday, October 16th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Bye bye Buell, MV Agusta for sale
Harley-Davidson have announced that the Buell brand will be discontinued from the end of 2009.
Production had already been slowed at the Wisconsin factory this year and the official word is that the last few new bikes will be manufactured in October, with the lines finally stopping on October 30th 2009. Warranty claims will be honoured for all new Buells bought this year, say Harley.
“Buell has been an unforgettable ride, a testimony to what a small group of inspired people can do,” said Erik Buell, the man who dreamed he could build a sporting Harley V-twin back in the 80s, ” with brilliant innovations we’ve produced some of the best-handling bikes of all time.”
Erik Buell is staying with Harley, hoping the develop new models within that brand, but it’s bad news for the workers in East Troy Wisconsin, where jobs in manufacturing are hard to come by. The Buell plant will close in December this year.
Further bad news for Harley-Davidson is contained in their latest financial statement; sales down 21% year-on-year and net income dropped by a staggering 84% in the third quarter of 2009. Harley now intend to concentrate every effort on turning around their fortunes in the core US market, and it will be no surprise if the V-Rod line is rationalised and perhaps some key production – like say engines and gearboxes – for all Harleys is transferred to the Far East.
As many industry observers predicted when the stock markets crashed and low interest credit facilities were withdrawn, Harley have also announced that they will now sell MV Agusta, instead of developing new bikes and establishing a dealer network. It was always going to be a tough job for a brand which had no real affinity for sportbike riders.
It’s a sad day for Buell fans of course, but H-D’s tough decision highlights a wider problem in the motorcycle industry. There is less room than ever for genuinely different, unique brands with a dedicated cult following. Marques like Buell, Moto Morini, Voxan and Scorpa have all hit problems this year, but the pain isn’t over yet. More famous names could still be riding off into the sunset.
WHERE NOW FOR MV AGUSTA?
The MV Agusta brand is inherently valauble and you’d be a brave man to bet against an Italian backed consortium acquiring it, although a Chinese company might be keen to snap it up and then transfer production to China. But would the Italian government and unions stand for that? Unlikely with Berlusconi in charge.
The MV machines are beautiful and there’s room for an upmarket `Ferrari’ type brand within motorcycling. But it will take a large investment in new production facilities at Varese, dealer network sweeteners, plus the development of two new models, a supersport four cylinder and perhaps an exotic six, or triple, produced in limited editions, to truly revive MV in the longer term.
The harsh truth is that many buyers won’t pay the sort of prices that MV Agusta once demanded back in their 60s/70s heyday, when a 750 America cost over twice as much as a Honda CB750. Can any European based bike manufacturer survive on making 500-1000 luxury machines a year to wealthy colectors?
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