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Giovanni Castiglioni

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It has been a curious thing to see the European press beginning to make hay of the news that MV Agusta has filed trademark renewals for the Elefant name.

Some publications have even gone on to suggest that the move could see the Varesini factory come to blows with its rival in Bologna: Ducati Motor Holdings.

These reports, while interesting to anyone who studies the flow of information in modern journalism, are a bit ridiculous in their reality…for several reasons.

In our round-ups of the EICMA show of Milan, I am not sure if we have saved the best for last, but we certainly have saved the most important for last. There has been no shortage of news from MV Agusta this month already, and the Italian brand ran a skillful guerrilla campaign in Milan this year - a show that takes place in the company's own backyard.

In this month alone, MV Agusta has announced a €40 million investment, a new CEO, a new four-cylinder platform, and a bevy of special edition models. Recently too, the iconic motorcycle brand has entered into the Moto2 World Championship, withdrawn from the World Superbike paddock, and positioned itself as the ultra-premium offering in the two-wheeled space.

So, what does this all mean? Well...we certainly have a lot to talk about.

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MV Agusta has raised an additional €40 million in funding, the Italian firm reports, bringing its total in fundraising to €50 million over the last 12 months, as the company moves past its previous financial troubles.

With the capital increase comes a change in the leadership structure at MV Agusta, with Giovanni Castiglioni continuing as the company’s President, while investor Timur Sardarov takes on the role of the company’s new CEO and Chairman of the Board.

This arrangement should mean that Castiglioni will focus on the day-to-day business of MV Agusta and its product lineup, while  Sardarov will mind the company’s financial future and big-picture strategy, including the company’s new business plan.

In what has to be the most strongly worded press release we have seen in this business, MV Agusta and Forward Racing made it crystal clear why there were terminating their relationship with rider Romano Fenati, who was set to join the Italian company’s Moto2 project next season.

“In all my years of watching sport, I have never seen behavior as dangerous as this,” said MV Agusta CEO Giovanni Castiglioni. “A rider who can act like this can never represent the values of our company for our brand. For this reason, we do not want him to be the rider with which MV Agusta makes its return to the World Championship.”

Even those who don’t follow motorcycle racing are talking about Fenati’s actions from this past weekend’s San Marino GP, where the 22-year-old Italian grabbed the brake lever of Stefano Manzi, as the pair raced at over 130 mph.

MV Agusta will make a historic return to grand prix racing, announcing its plans today to race in the Moto2 Championship with Forward Racing. The news has been rumored and talked about for quite some time, in some form or another, but now the ink has dried on the deal, and it is officially official.

As such, MV Agusta will build a custom chassis around the Triumph 765 three-cylinder engine and provide factory technical assistance to the team, while Forward Racing handles the day-to-day items running the Moto2 squad.

The new race bike is expected to make its debut in July of this year, and be on the grid for the 2019 season – when Moto2 switches from Honda to Triumph spec-engines.

In Episode 3 of the MOTR Podcast, I sit down with MV Agusta CEO Giovanni Castiglioni, for a one-on-one talk about his iconic motorcycle company.

As you can imagine from the events over the past few years, our conversation focused on where MV Agusta has been, where it sits now, and where it is heading for the future.

During the interview, Castiglioni explains the issues MV Agusta has faced, and outlines the firms new, new business plan going forward. The conversation is an interesting insight into MV Agusta’s business workings, and the young CEO is more than candid.

You may have already seen the news regarding MV Agusta’s superbike future, the firm’s plans for Cagiva and electric motorcycles, and that we will see that start of the new four-cylinder lineup late this year.

We broke the news on those stories, and now you can hear in full detail the audio behind those headlines. We think you will find it a very interesting conversation.

You can find the latest episodes of the MOTR Podcast on iTunes, Google PlaySoundCloud, or via your RSS feed, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.

If you’re not already, you should also listen to our sister podcasts, the Two Enthusiasts Podcast and The Paddock Pass Podcast.

While we are happy to report the rebirth of the Cagiva brand, and the pending launch of MV Agusta’s new Brutale 1000, we do have some bad news to report from Italy, as this will be the last year of the MV Agusta F4 superbike, for quite some time.

While the Italian brand plans to debut three new models from its four-cylinder platform over the next three years, the company’s superbike offering will be the last to be revitalized.

As such, the Brutale 1000 will debut this year as a 2019 machine, a “neo-classical” bike will debut next year as a 2020 machine, and a new “F4” will debut a year after that, as a 2021 model year bike.

This news is about to get worse, before it gets better, so let me explain further.

Those who look back fondly on the Cagiva brand will be happy to hear that it will be officially revived as a motorcycle brand, with models set to debut later this year, for the 2019 model year.

Before you envision a modern take on the Cagiva Elefant however, this news comes with the caveat that Cagiva will serve as MV Agusta Motor’s foray into the electric two-wheeled space.

We are cautious to label this endeavor however, as the new Cagiva will operate in a segment of vehicle that hasn’t really been created yet – a type of electric two-wheeler that is somewhere between an e-bike and a full-blown electric motorcycle, like what Alta and Zero are producing.

Asphalt & Rubber is coming to you from Varese, Italy this week, as we get ready to ride the Euro4-spec Brutale 800 RR.

Before we ride tomorrow though, we had a chance to sit down with MV Agusta boss, Giovanni Castiglioni, and pick his brain on a variety of subjects (keep an eye on the MOTR podcast for the full interview).

Revealing a few company secrets to us, as all good Italian CEOs do, Castiglioni has provided more insight on the company’s new four-cylinder platform, which will begin to debut this year, likely at November’s EICMA show, but possibly before then.

Described to us as “like Leon Camier’s bike, but without fairings”, the new Brutale 1000 will be the first of three models using the Italian company’s four-cylinder platform.

A bit of a housekeeping item, but today it was announced that MV Holding has completed the acquisition of the shares that were previously held by Mercedes AMG, thus effectively removing the German brand from the Italian motorcycle company’s business operations.

This means that MV Agusta is now solely controlled by Giovanni Castiglioni and the Sardarov family, though today’s news is likely due to investments by the latter, into the struggling motorcycle brand.

For fans of the MV Agusta brand, this surely is the start of a new chapter for this mercurial motorcycle marque.