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To be honest, it was a bit of surprise when last week MV Agusta announced that it was going to keep its factory open in Varese.

Situated in the hard-hit Lombardy region of Italy, the move seemed counter-intuitive to what was happening to the region because of the coronavirus.

Now, we get word that MV Agusta is going to close its factory, after the Italian Prime Minister announced on Sunday night more restrictive measures for prevention and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was perhaps only a matter of time before Harley-Davidson would have to halt the production lines at its US factories, but that time is now, and it comes after the Bar & Shield brand discovered yesterday that a worker tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee worked at the Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations facility, and tested positive Wednesday afternoon for the coronavirus. As a result, Harley-Davidson is halting production at this factory, as well as suspending operations at its York and Tomahawk facilities.

Harley-Davidson says that it will close these factories until March 29th, in order to help “support employee health and further bolster coronavirus containment efforts.”

EBR Motorcycles is closing its doors…again. Yes, you heard that right. America’s superbike brand will be winding down its production operations, starting next week, and is looking for a strategic investor to takeover the brand.

Liquid Asset Partners (LAP) attributes its decision to shutdown EBR Motorcycles to the company’s difficulty to secure new dealerships, and thus increase sales. As a result, LAP says that its production volume for 2016 and 2017 was below expectations.

The company then finishes its explanation for closing EBR Motorcycles with the following line: “the combination of slow sales and industry announcements of other major OEM brands closing or cutting production only magnified the challenges faced by EBR.”

Whether you believe that line of reasoning or not, the result is the same, Erik Buell’s motorcycle brand once again has a dim future.

Skully on Friday finally acknowledged what has already been known in the motorcycling community: the company was going out of business. The news comes after a last-minute effort by the remaining management to secure a new round of funding.

With $15 million down the drain, work still to do before the Skully AR-1 would be ready to ship, and a growing group of disgruntled early adopters, Skully’s resurrection was not to be.

Instead in a letter to backers and customers, Skully announced that it would be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the bankruptcy procedure for companies that are going out of business. This news, of course, directly impacts the thousands of motorcyclists who were expecting to receive a Skully AR-1 helmet.

It was just two weeks ago that we told you about Skully’s investors ousting brothers Marcus Weller and Mitch Weller from the San Francisco startup, and today TechCrunch reports that the motorcycle helmet company will be rather swiftly closing its doors.

A&R readers may remember that Skully’s latest delay to market stemmed from the Skully AR-1 helmet not being ready for mass production, despite the nearly $15 million raised through seed money and a Series A funding round, which was led by Intel Capital.

As such, the closure surely stems from Skully’s investors choosing to shut down the company’s operations, rather than rebuild Skully’s tarnished reputation and retool its product for mass production.

According to TechCrunch, operations at Skully have already ceased, and the website is expected to go offline later today, though as of this writing Skully’s website remains, and its social marketing team is still on Facebook cooling the heels of angry customers.

It’s been a rough year for German manufacturer Horex, especially after the company declared bankruptcy this September. With no new investors in sight, Horex has had no choice but to close it doors, and layoff its staff, including management.

The Horex project had a rough start, and was fraught with production delays and key design changes. Posting to the company’s Facebook page today (translated into English after the jump), it would seem barring a miracle, this is the end of the Horex brand’s rebirth.

When news came that American Suzuki Motor Corporation was to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the news was pitched that it would benefit the company’s motorcycle interests, as Suzuki would no longer be tied-down with its ailing automotive division in the USA, and instead would be left to focus on its powersports offerings.

While that general statement may remain true, Powersports Business has learned that the Japanese OEM plans on closing 100 to 200 of its roughly 930 powersports dealerships. This would mean a roughly 10% to 20% reduction in Suzuki dealerships nationwide — a decision that has more than a few dealers feeling a bitter taste in their mouths.

Withstanding two earthquakes in just over a week’s time, Ducati has announced the closure of its Borgo Panigale factory, after today’s 5.8 magnitude shaker, whose epicenter was just 25 miles away from Bologna.

Remaining open after Northern Italy’s 6.0 earthquake on May 20th, this latest quake has caused enough damage in the area to warrant the Italian motorcycle manufacturer giving its workforce time to address the damage caused, and to see to loved ones who were more extensively affected by the quake that has so far accounted for 15 deaths.

As Japan continues to battle with the aftermath from its 9.0 earthquake, the Japanese motorcycle industry has been placed into a holding pattern while the country handles more pressing issues. With news that the Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha factories would be temporarily shutting down last week, more news has been released updating us on the status with these companies. Issuing current statements are: Bridgestone, Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki. Check their statuses after the jump.

After we posted yesterday that Moto Morini had shut down its production line, amid the Italian company’s financial problems, other publications began covering the company’s complete closure. This caught the folks at Moto Morini off-guard, who while on an extended day-off, insist they are still keeping the production line functioning, if admittedly at a significantly reduced capacity.