Opinion/Editorial

No, The MV Agusta RVS Isn’t a New Motorcycle

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I don’t know why I have to write this story, it seems so obvious to me, yet I have read about half a dozen publications this week spewing fake news about how MV Agusta is about to release a new scrambler model, based either off the Brutale or Dragster street bike. 

In case you missed it, MV Agusta released a terse video trailer the other day, touting something called “RVS” which stands for “Reparto Veicoli Speciali” in Italian.

In English of course, this means “Special Vehicles Department”…and thus to us it seems fairly obvious what the Italian brand is up to. Well, apparently we are somewhat alone in that regard. Le sigh.

The ending of this video does show what looks like a scrambler-type motorcycle, with a few obvious MV Agusta lines to its styling. And, this is apparently enough fuel to start a fire about a brand new model from the Varesini brand, at least if your mammalian ancestry is more closely linked to the noble lemming.

The thing is though, MV Agusta has given us all the pieces of information required in order to know that the iconic brand isn’t releasing a new motorcycle, and is instead up to much bigger things within its factory walls.

First up, Giovanni Castiglioni has already made it pretty clear that we would see a spartan number of new motorcycles from MV Agusta over the next two years, with a new four-cylinder Brutale likely to debut at EICMA later this year, and two other models debuting in 2018 (likely also at EICMA).

So, is the “MV Agusta RVS” a new four-cylinder Brutale? The correct answer is no. Ok then, so let’s stop saying that this is a new motorcycle release.

Ruling out that MV Agusta is teasing us its latest addition to its model lineup (an act that almost never happens this time of year), that leaves us to speculate on what MV Agusta’s “Special Vehicles Department” could be…oh wait, no we don’t…because we can read words.

Special. Vehicles. Department. Just spitballing here, but one would guess that “RVS” is some sort of department — say, inside MV Agusta — that works on special vehicles. Throw in a video that is littered with machine-shop footage of metal being worked on, and well…

The real coup de grâce though is the single-sentence blurb that came attached to MV Agusta’s teaser video for its RVS project, which reads: “This new atelier reinterprets the idea of exclusivity and customization that has always been part of MV Agusta history.”

That in and of itself should be all the evidence we need to crack MV Agusta’s “enigmatic” press release, but we have some other items pointing to a special works program inside MV Agusta as well, with Castiglioni aiming to position MV Agusta above Ducati, as the ultimate Italian motorcycle brand.

The young CEO has also touted MV Agusta as the only “truly Italian” motorcycle brand in the business, a nod to Ducati’s German (still) ownership.

Castiglioni is trying to appeal to Italian motorcycle owners who are looking for a more “authentic” brand experience, and one way of doing that is to offer bespoke manufacturing services.

This is something the Italians have already perfect in the four-wheeled space, with Ferrari and Lamborghini offering similar “special vehicle department” services to high-rolling clientele. It is actually surprising that we don’t see something similar in the two-wheeled space already, to be frank.

This special vehicles department is not only lucrative from a profit margin perspective, but it also fits MV Agusta’s current business strategy and financial position perfectly. It is actually really impressive how good this idea is, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some other brands copying it, *cough* Ducati *cough*.

Of course, what does this have to do with that scramblered-out MV Agusta Dragster that everyone is talking about? Well, that is a great example of the kind of machines that MV Agusta RVS can produce for its clients.

Some custom paint, some special tires, maybe a few one-off parts and exotic materials…wait, we have seen this before…could the “Blackout” custom Dragster 800 that debuted in Verona earlier this year have been an early beta of the MV Agusta RSV program? Only time will tell.

Photo: MV Agusta

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