International Dealer News IDN 154 April/May 2020 | Page 18

THE BRADLEY REPORT
Glorying in the 100th anniversary of its
first incorporation - by Michio Suzuki as
the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing
Company on 15th March 1920 in the
present-day Hamamatsu, Shizuoka -
Suzuki Motor Corporation (as it
became in 1990) can be pleased with the progress it continues to make in
motorcycle terms, given its slow, ten-
year journey back to any kind of health,
even if its overall financial prospects
remain clouded.
In motorcycle unit terms, total global
sales for the nine months to December 31st 2019 are 1,344 million units, up
+2.8% over the year-ago period.
However, sales in Europe were -6.0%
at 32,000 units only; essentially flat at
-0.9% at 28,000 units in North
America; -12.3% at 38,000 units in
Japan; but +3.5% at 1,110,000 units
in Asia, where India is its biggest
market (+13.6%/536,000 units), with
China down by -12.2%/248,000 units.
In line with the regulations announced
by the Spanish government, Figueres,
Girona based Rieju has furloughed its
staff and suspended all operations,
initially until April 13th, but as
elsewhere, that is expected to be
extended until at least the end of April.
Before the factory shut down, the
company had reached an agreement with Torrot Electric Europa (Salt,
Girona), the former GasGas parent
company, to acquire the Enduro
motorcycle platform intellectual and
industrial property that was not sold to
KTM. The well-known Spanish Enduro
machines are a perfect 'gap-filler' in the
Rieju range and will now be
manufactured and marketed under the
Rieju brand.
Under the GasGas banner, Torrot launched the range of 250 and 300 cc
EC, XC and GP in 2-stroke singles in
2017, adding the 300 cc Ranger in
2019. Torrot is said to have sold some
4,500 units of the range in more than
50 countries in the three years since the
launch. Rieju, S.A. will manufacture
these very latest Enduro models at its
plant in Figueres and at the time the deal
was done had hoped to be able to be
distributing them from June 2020.
Joan Mir:
"Health is
much more
important
than fame or
riding bikes."
In revenue terms, total global revenue
from motorcycle and related sales for
the nine-month period to December
31st was 182,125bn yen for a 27bn
segment profit.
MV Agusta
Having initially stated its determination
to stay open, MV Agusta announced
suspension of production at its
Schiranna plant, starting March 26, and
until the production ban is lifted.
In mid-March, Timur Sardarov, MV
Agusta Motor S.p.A. CEO, had
appeared to take a defiant stand
against closure, stating that "we
believe it is our duty not to give up in
this crisis situation, so that the economy
of this community can recover once the
emergency is over". However, the
increasingly draconian steps that the
Italian government deemed necessary
to try and roll back the progress of the
virus proved to be a superior force and
common sense prevailed.
The year started so well for MV Agusta
with the celebration of the brand's 75th
anniversary. An unrivalled record of 37
world championship victories all started
with the January 19, 1945
establishment of Meccanica Verghera
Srl in Cascina Costa, near today's Milan
Malpensa international airport.
The Agusta family, pioneers of the
aviation industry, unable to continue
manufacturing aeroplanes in the
aftermath of WWII, turned to
motorcycles to express their passion for
speed, adrenaline and precision
engineering. Legend has it that the first
model, a 98 cc, was due to be called
"Vespa", but the name was already
taken, so it went down in history simply
Timur
Sardarov,
MV Agusta
CEO
as the MV98.
The partnership with Giacomo Agostini
endures as one of the most celebrated
in the history of motorcycle racing -
'Ago' won 13 world championships, 18
Italian titles and 10 Isle of Man TTs.
When family patriarch Count Domenico
Agusta passed away in 1971, and after
Agostini's last victory at the
Nürburgring in 1976, MV Agusta's fate
was uncertain until the Castiglioni
family decided to give it a new lease of
life. In 1992, Claudio Castiglioni's
Cagiva acquired the MV Agusta brand
and moved production to its facility at
Schiranna on the shores of lake Varese.