MV Agusta Archives - Page 32 of 32

News

Changing of the Guard for Harley-Davidson and MV Agusta Management

By Jensen Beeler 04/07/2009 1 Comment

As we noted late last week, Jim Ziemer, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, will be leaving the Milwaukee company soon. Replacing him will be Keith E. Wandell, former COO of Johnson Controls. Along with Mr. Wandell, there is further shuffling and addition in the Harley ranks. Matt Levatich has returned from running MV Agusta, to become Chief Operations Officer. In turn, replacing Levatich at MV Agusta is the Italian Enrico D’Onofrio, former CFO at Ducati. D’Onofrio will take the position of Managing Director of MV Agusta. How about that for three letter bingo?

While we expect that these names have been gracing the lips of Board Members for some time, the announcement of their appointment happily coincides with harsh criticism made in the media of Harley-Davidson’s current financial problems, and general mismanagement. We can only hope that the timely appointments will also mean timely changes for Harley-Davidson.

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News

Tough Times Ahead for Harley-Davidson as Riders Get Older

By Jensen Beeler 03/26/2009 5 Comments

The New York Times ran a great article this week about the challenges facing Harley-Davidson, both from the current economic depression, and more generally as the quintessential Harley rider gets older in age.

In summation, Harley-Davidson dealers around the US and overseas are seeing sales drop dramatically as people scale back their expensive purchases, and as the access to credit becomes increasingly difficult.

There’s no real surprise there, and any hardcore fan will be quick to tell you that Harley will be back on top once this financial turmoil is over. However, looking farther down the road at Harley-Davidson’s long-term business position, there is additional trouble brewing as well.

Baby boomers account for the majority of Harley sales, and they are getting older. The NY times ends there with its commentary, but we think there’s more to the story on Harley-Davidson and the American bike market in general.

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News

Warren Buffett Invests $300MM in Harley-Davidson

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2009 No Comments

Harley-Davidson has announced that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group will invest $300 million in the motorcycle maker through a purchasee of senior unsecured notes that will mature in 2014. These funds match a similar investment by Davis Selected Advisers, L.P., which is already the largest shareholder of the company’s stock. Harley-Davidson will use the money to bolster its lending services, hopefully making it easier for the troubled motorcycle maker to lend cash to consumers. In exchange, Berkshire Hathaway will reportedly receive a lucrative 15% annual interest rate on the cash infusion.

The markets have responded to the news rather favorably, with Harley shares hitting $13.56 in trading yesterday afternoon – a 14% increase from where they started yesterday. Just about a week ago, Harley-Davidson announced a plan to shed 10% of its workforce. This move marks the first time that Buffett has ever invested in the company.

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News

Massimo Tamburini, Chief Designer at MV Agusta Retires

By Jensen Beeler 12/03/2008 2 Comments

On December 31st, Massimo Tamburini will be retiring from his position of design chief at MV Agusta. With this news it will be interesting to see who at MV (or should we speculate Harley-Davidson?) will step in to fill possibly the most important role to MV’s future.

Massimo Tamburini has been the hand behind some of the most cosmetically important motorcycles in the industry’s history, those are some big shoes to fill, and it will be the first test of Harley-Davidson’s management of their new brand. Read more for MV Agusta’s official press release.

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Bikes

MV Agusta Bestiale by Yacouba Design

By Jensen Beeler 10/29/2008 1 Comment

What do you do with an $18,000 motorcycle that already stands apart from the streetfighter crowd as pure sex being masqueraded around town in two-wheel form? You buy another $7770 kit to make it drip that much more unadulterated lurid appeal, of course.

And, that’s exactly what Yacouba Galle, a french artisan and powersports enthusiast did back in 2007. Well, when MV passed on putting the Bestiale into production, Galle took it upon himself to offer a bolt-on kit for Brutale owners. Follow the jump for more hyperbole, video, and pictures…in that order.

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