1943–1945: From idea to mass production The genesis of the Agusta company came in the early 20th century.
Count Giovanni Agusta left
Sicily for
northern Italy, where he built his first aircraft, the AG.1, four years after the
Wright brothers had made history in the US. The First World War, which demonstrated the prospects of aviation, prompted Agusta to be decisive. In 1923, in the town of
Samarate, he founded the Costruzioni Aeronautiche Giovanni Agusta S.A. (usually shortened to
Agusta) aircraft factory. He died in 1927 at the age of 48, leaving his life's work to his wife Giuseppina and his sons,
Domenico, Vincenzo, Mario and Corrado. Aircraft orders were plentiful and business generally went well until 1945, when provisions of the peace treaty that ended
World War II (reiterated in the
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947), forbid
Italy from producing aircraft. Acting quickly to save their business and their employees' jobs, the Agustas turned to an idea formulated by Count Domenico Agusta during the war. Domenico believed that the business could best be diversified and made peaceful by commencing the production of motorcycles, which would be needed by a country gutted by war. On January 19, 1945, in the town of Cascina Costa (near the
Malpensa airport near Milan), a private company, Meccanica Verghera S.r.l., was registered. Using an engine that had been prepared by August 1943—a 98 cc single-cylinder
two-stroke with a two-stage gear box—and spare parts obtained from the black market to bypass shortages, a prototype motorcycle was constructed. The prototype was exhibited to the press in late October 1945 at a dealership on Via Piatti in
Milan. It was light motorcycle with a steel tube rigid frame, a
girder fork, 19-inch wheels, and a gas tank marked with a large M and V. It was initially called "Vespa 98" before being renamed to "MV 98" to avoid confusion with the
Vespa motorscooter produced by
Piaggio. The MV 98 was first produced en masse in 1946. Two versions were sold to consumers: Economica, based on the prototype presented a year earlier, and Turismo, distinguished by the presence of a three-speed gearbox and a rear suspension. The Turismo proved to be so overwhelmingly popular that before long, the Economica was discontinued. In 1946, about 50 units were produced.
1945–1980: Agusta family period Count Domenico Agusta had a passion for mechanical workings and for motorcycle racing. Much like
Enzo Ferrari, the Agusta family produced and sold motorcycles almost exclusively to fund their racing efforts. So soon after the start of production of its first model MV 98, the company launched its own factory racing program. The date of the first MV Agusta race is unknown, but the first victory was delivered by Vicenzo Nincioni in the road race held in
La Spezia on October 6, 1946. Just a week later, he took the third place in
Valenza, where the first place was also taken by the MV racer Mario Cornalea. On November 3, in
Monza, MV racers Vicenzo Ninconi, Mario Cornalea and Mario Paleari occupied the entire podium for the first time in MV racing history. In the end of 1946, a special racing motorcycle was assembled at the factory in Caschina Costa. Its main advantages over the serial model 98 were a telescopic fork and a plunger type rear suspension. The frame remained a simple tubular (closed type) and was shortened by 50 mm to improve the handling. The handle bar was narrowed and the rearsets were moved back to make a sportier riding position. The two-stroke engine was improved by enlarging the cylinders ports, raising the compression ratio and installing a new 20 mm horizontal carburetor. The number of gears was increased from two to three. As a result, the power increased to 5 hp at 5,400 rpm, and the maximum speed increased to 95 km/h. Soon almost all of these improvements were also applied on the production model MV 98. By that time, the capacity of 98 cc was no longer relevant in racing world, which had become more organized and moved on to the classic 125, 250 and 500 cc categories. The bike was good enough to help Franco Bertoni to win the 1948 Grand Prix of Nations at Monza. In the
1949 season, the 125 cc, or ultra-light weight class, gained new prestige. More motorcycle manufacturers were competing in the inaugural world championships that were held in Switzerland, Netherlands and Italy. The
Mondial 125 cc
DOHC design dominated the
1949 season. After a short twenty-minute run on the factory test bench, ex-Gilera rider
Arcisco Artesiani managed a creditable fifth on the untested and ungainly MV 500. His race average speed of 160.66 km/h was impressive, but the remainder of the season proved difficult and the MV failed to live up to expectations. Artesiani's third place at Monza in the Nations Grand Prix was the highlight of the
1950 season, and Artesiani finished eighth overall in the
World Championship. The MV's first racing success came later with the
125cc DOHC four-stroke engine. The
1950 season and
1951 season were development years. Racing efforts only produced a fifth-place finish at the
Dutch TT in 1950. The 1951 results were only slightly better. The
1952 season saw the introduction of telescopic forks, full width alloy brake hubs and a sleek fuel tank on the 125 cc race bike. Britain's
Cecil Sandford piloted the new MV 125 to a
1952 Isle of Man TT victory and went on to win MV Agusta's first world championship. And in September that year
Leslie Graham made Count Agusta the happiest man alive by winning MV's first 500 cc Grand Prix, on the hallowed asphalt of
Monza, beating Gilera's
Umberto Masetti by 58 seconds.
Giuseppe Commendatore Gilera was so incensed that he lodged a protest, claiming MV's engine was oversize. It wasn't. In July 1954, MV began offering a very limited-availability racing model
175 CSS (
Super Sport). The engine was further turned from the CS model, including higher compression ratio and a larger carburetor, to produce 15 hp at 8,800 rpm. Cycle parts were the same as the CS model, except it was fitted with
Earles forks. In 1955, MV Agusta designed the
175 CSS-5V for the 175 cc
Formula Sport Derivata race series. The "Squalo" (
English: shark), as it was generally known, had a lighter frame based on that used on the works racers, larger brakes, a magneto, Earles forks and a five-speed gearbox. The bike became the part of motorcycle racing history thanks to the first victory of young
Mike Hailwood, the future nine-time world champion. Mike won his first ever race on one of these machines bored out to 196 cc in a 200-cc class race at Oulton Park in 1957. Around 200 of the model were manufactured between 1954 and 1957. The 175 cc engine became famous not only in road racing. From 1955 to 1958, MV also produced off-road racing motorcycles. But, perhaps, the most unexpected option manufactured in the same years was the trike Motocarro with a load capacity of 300 kg. Unfortunately the 175 cc family had a considerable drawback. In fact, the flip side of its advantages. After all, the motorcycle was designed by the racing engineer, who spent the best part of his life following the rule brilliantly formulated by
Ferdinand Porsche: "The perfect racing car crosses the finish line first and subsequently falls into its component parts". Four-stroke 175-cc MV Agusta engines were distinguished by excellent dynamics at that time, but not durability. They were even given the nickname "Fragile Diamonds". In addition, the upper camshaft complicated the procedure for cleaning carbon deposits, which was required several times a season due to the quality of oil and fuel. Therefore, for the new 125cc motorcycle, which was supposed to replace two-stroke models, a simplified version of the four-stroke engine was developed, with pushrods operating the valves. The model debuted in 1954 in two versions: Turismo Rapido (6.5 hp) and Rapido Sport (7.5 hp). but the overall sales were far from brilliant. As a result, the success hoped for was not realized with only 544 250-cc machines and about 500 300-cc machines being produced. Trying to completely rid the brand of the dubious fame of "fragile diamonds", the company's engineers completely redesigned the lubrication system by the 1959 season: they installed a high-performance oil pump, a centrifugal oil filter, and increased the volume of the pan. The main new MV Agusta 125 TRE advertising message was focused on its reliability and assured 100,000 km mileage without any problems, for which the model was nicknamed "Centomila" (
English: one hundred thousand). In 1958, responding to the new Italian Road Law (
Italian: Codice della strada), which closed highways for motorcycles of 125 cc or less, the company released a 150-cc version of the MV Agusta 150 RS (Rapido Sport). Its 10 hp engine accelerating the motorcycle up to 110 km/h, allowed it to stay in the stream (the most popular car of those times – the
Fiat 500 – had a lower maximum speed). The same engine, detuned to 7 hp, was also installed on the small three-wheeled scooter Centauro. This machine with a load capacity of 350 kg already had a cab. In 1957, MV produced a cheaper version of the 175-cc engine with
a camshaft located in the engine block. Later in 1959, this engine bored up to 232 cc became a heart of a new motorcycle –
Tevere (
English: Tiber). In fact, the 11 hp Tevere was a more dynamic and less affordable version of MV Agusta 150 RS, so the model was discontinued soon. But the 232-cc engine itself, equipped with forced cooling, was produced until 1968, to complete the Trasporto Tevere cargo scooter. A new family of ultralight (only 83 kg for basic version) Checca motorcycles debuted in 1960 to replace the Ottantatrè model. Technically Checca was similar to the 125-cc Centomila, but with a scaled parts. The basic version GT was equipped with an 83-cc 4 hp engine, an upper level GTE version had a 99-cc 5.15-hp engine and the Sport version had a 99-cc 6.5-hp engine. In 1962, the family was supplemented the GTL version with a 125-cc 5.5-hp engine. The family was in production for totally 9 years, however it had no big commercial success. The 1958 Italian Road Law (
Italian: Codice della strada) defined a new category "ciclomotore": a two- or three-wheeled vehicle with engine capacity 50 cc or less and speed 40 km/h or less. Italian motorcycle industry saw in the new law an opportunity to attract younger riders’ audience. MV Agusta from its side presented Liberty family in 1962. In fact, it was the same Checca, but even more lightweight and simplified, with a 47.7-cc 1.5-hp engine at 4,500 rpm. An interesting fact that sales of the Liberty Sport version significantly exceeded the sales of the basic Liberty Turismo. After the
1957 season, the Italian motorcycle manufacturers
Gilera,
Moto Guzzi and
Mondial jointly agreed to withdraw from
Grand Prix competition due to escalating costs and diminishing sales. Count Agusta originally agreed to withdraw, but then had second thoughts. MV Agusta went on to dominate Grand Prix racing, winning 17 consecutive 500-cc world championships. Count Agusta's competitive nature drove him to hire some of the best riders of the time, including
Carlo Ubbiali,
John Surtees,
Mike Hailwood,
Giacomo Agostini,
Phil Read, and the best engineers, in particular
Arturo Magni. The three- and four-cylinder race bikes were known for their excellent road handling. The fire-engine red racing machines became a hallmark of Grand Prix racing in the 1960s and early 1970s. Moreover, a five-speed gearbox has become standard for 125-cc and 150-cc road motorcycles since 1966, the factory line-up was supplemented by the Scrambler version. Such significant novelty put the all new two-cylinder line-up on the background. Most probably it happened also because of the new two-cylinder motorcycles had a regular look, very similar to the previous motorcycles. Motorcycles MV Agusta became more advanced, with modern electrical equipment and improved suspensions. At the same time MV Agusta kept the look of its motorcycles almost unchanged. Meanwhile, the 1960s became a turning point in motorcycle design world, and other Italian companies set new design excellence standards not supported by MV Agusta with its motorcycles' look "from the 1950s". The first significant design improvement became only in 1970, however it was not well accepted by customers and the second change became in 1971. The changes included elongated gas tanks, front forks without covers, low handlebars, saddles with a "hump". The new MV Agusta
125 Sport entered the market in 1974. Now, the design was one step ahead! The straightened lines that were just coming into fashion reflected the trend set a year earlier by the prototype MV Agusta
350 Ipotesi. Even the fins and the crankcase got square-shape. Some of the motorcycles were equipped with a Grand Prix type fairing. Technical advantages included fully enclosed, fully tubular duplex frame, front disc brake and electronic ignition system. Sales were good, but because of the limited facilities of Alpha, production could not be increased. The licence to produce MV motorcycles was transferred to the larger and better equipped
Avello factory in the Natahoyo neighbourhood of
Gijón in
Asturias in 1951, creating the
MV Avello brand. Production in Spain continued until 1972.
1967–1974: World's first production transverse 4-cylinder motorcycles Inline 4-cylinder engines have been a modern characteristic feature of MV Agusta. For the first time this type of engine designed by
Pierro Remor was used in the
1950 Grand Prix season. In the mid-1960s, when the demand for large engine capacity motorcycles grew, there was born an idea to apply it on a road bike (the first prototype MV Agusta 500 Grand Turismo R19 was built in 1951). However, the dealers' hopes did not materialize: there were few customers ready to pay $6,500 for
750 Sport America (for comparison, the Honda CB750 cost $2,190) and only 540 units were produced. The bike used cast alloy wheels and triple disc brakes which were a significant innovation for that time. Two years later this model named 350 S went into production. It kept even the squared external cases of the engine, despite the fact that the basic motor internals were identical to the
previous 350 twin model. Output was increased from 27 hp at 7800 rpm to 34 hp at 8500 rpm claimed.
1946–1977: Experiments, concepts and non-standard vehicles MV Agusta is famous by its experiments and expands of the range. In 1949, the company launched production of scooters. From 1955 till 1969, MV produced mopeds. In 1975, the company presented the Mini Moto 4 V that looked like MV racing bikes (including even four exhausts and "Grand Prix" front fairing) but it had a 50-cc engine with 1.5 hp only. The two seater car Vetturetta 350 (
English: microcar), presented in 1953, was designed by
Pierro Remor to demonstrate the potential of the young company. Of course it has never been brought to market. Now it's part of a motoring exhibition at the MV Agusta Museum. But MV Agusta also produced lightweight commercial vehicles that were actively sold and used. The first production three-wheeled delivery truck (
Italian: motocarro) appeared in 1947 and had the same 98-cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine as that used in MV 98. It was an odd-looking vehicle with a wooden front-loading bed and a steering wheel. In 1948, several commercial MVs came with a 125-cc two-stroke single-cylinder engine with a three-speed gearbox. The second edition of the MV Agusta's commercial three-wheeler – the 175 Motocarro – was presented in 1954. There were several advancements compared to the 98. The steering wheel was replaced by a handlebar. The engine was a 172.3-cc four-stroke derived from the 175 CST (1954) with a single overhead cam. The load bay was at the rear and was made of metal. The wheels were much larger in diameter (17") and the load capacity was of 350 kg. In 1958, the company unveiled the 150 Centauro RF model. It was the third ‘transport’ vehicle from MV Agusta, and the first with a cab. The 150 cc four-stroke engine was based on the 125 cc unit found in the Turismo Rapido (1954), though this also got a cooling fan. All that yielded 7 hp through a four-speed (plus reverse) gearbox, good for a top speed of about 60 km/h. Further versions were the "MV TTB" (1961) and the "MV TTC" (1965). Producing 27 hp, it was able to carry a ton. It was offered as a pick-up truck, a delivery van and a pure chassis. The latest modification was the 1101 / D2L with a load capacity of 1200 kg. But this presentation became a big surprise because this bike bore the MV Agusta logo. The success of the exhibition was so significant that the museum repeated it twice more: in its branches in Bilbao and Las Vegas. The subsequent process of industrialisation was divided into two distinct stages: the first with production of a limited run of 300 F4 Serie Oro (
English: Gold Series) bikes, with carbon fibre bodywork, magnesium parts and an engine with sand cast crankcases anticipating the construction of the S model, destined for a broader range of users thanks to its price, cut by half over that of the previous version. In the meantime, Castiglioni obtained from the North American financier Oliver Curme, a general partner with
Battery Ventures, who owned the
Norton brand, license for production of a new generation of Norton motorcycles (designed by
Tamburini) in Italy. However the deal was not approved by GEVI S.p.A. which proceed with another deal and sold
Husqvarna to
BMW Motorrad in July 2007. Being disappointed by these decisions, Castiglioni found a new opportunity for MV Agusta: on July 11, 2008,
Harley-Davidson announced they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the MV Agusta Group for 109 million
US dollars (about 70 million euros), completing the acquisition on August 8, 2008. Castiglioni remained its president. Harley-Davidson invested 40 million euros into debts pay-off, production upgrade and the new model launches – a completely new three-cylinder F3 designed by the Ezio Mascheroni (who developed also
Cagiva GP500 in the past). However, due to its own problems Harley-Davidson decided to sell MV Agusta in October 2009. On August 6, 2010, Castiglioni family repurchased the new MV Agusta company, financially healthy and seriously refreshed, for just 1 euro. At
EICMA 2010, MV Agusta unveiled the next generation of the extreme
F4 sports bike with the new Corsa Corta engine with a capacity of 998 cc and 201 hp. It was the first new
four-cylinder engine MV Agusta since 2005. At the same time, the
Brutale naked line was updated, getting new model names 990 R (998 cc, 139 hp) and 1090 R (1078 cc, 142 hp). As a result, sales were increased for 50% in Q1 2010 and by the end of the year they achieved 3650 units. However, on August 17, 2011, after a long illness at the age of 64,
Claudio Castiglioni died. Giovanni Castiglioni, the son of Claudio, became the head of the company, and Massimo Bordi, who returned to the motorcycle industry, became vice-president. "
F3 is our future," – Claudio Castiglioni said at the presentation of the three-cylinder F3 model – in fact, he shared the company strategy for the coming years. Production of the "supersport"
F3 675 and its naked version
Brutale 675 began at the Varese factory in 2012. A year later they were supplemented by 798 cc
F3 800 and also by
Rivale 800 hypermotard. Then the range of three-cylinder models was expanded with
Brutale 800 and the
Brutale 800 Dragster, as well as the
Turismo Veloce 800 and
Stradale 800 sport tourers. During the next years MV Agusta demonstrated significant sales growth: 3,687 units in 2011 (+1% vs prior year), 6557 in 2012 (+70%), 7488 in 2013 (+14%), 9200 in 2014 (+23%). However the company was not able to manage such explosive growth situation from processes and financials side and finally MV Agusta increased its debt again. In addition to this MV experienced its traditional problems with dealer network and spare parts delivery. Therefore, the announced partnership with
Mercedes-AMG looked like a good deal for MV Agusta . The motivation of Mercedes-AMG acquisition of 25% of MV (rumored for 30 millions
euros of injections into the company plus support in sales & marketing operations) remains unclear. But this followed similar acquisition strategy by rival
Ducati, now in partnership with
Audi. Anyway this deal helped MV Agusta with getting back lenders' confidence and in February 2015,
Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM) with the guarantees of the Italian export credit agency
SACE loaned to MV Agusta 15 million euros to implement a new business plan. In addition, suppliers opened a new €25 million credit line for MV. According to the press Giovani Castiglioni expected more investments from Mercedes-AMG which didn't hurry with it. To the beginning of 2016,
Mercedes-AMG became ready to sell non-core asset with debts of over 40 million euros. However, taking into account the clause in the loan agreement with BPM that allows the bank to demand early repayment of debt, if Mercedes-AMG participation in the authorized capital of MV Agusta falls below 20%, the situation became difficult. Due to debts grow, suppliers began to refuse massively shipments of the components. MV Agusta from its side was obliged to reduce production from 9,000 motorcycles per year to 6,000-7,000, to reduce R&D costs from 15 million euros to 7 million, to reduce expenses for the racing division
Reparto Corse from 4 million euros to 600 thousand. In addition MV had to fire at least 200 employees. This was followed in early April by reports that MV was negotiating the repurchase of AMG's 25% stake in the company and looking for a new major investor, whilst retaining the majority shareholding of the Castiglioni family. Even of greater concern, were reports that MV were not delivering any spare parts and that the factory might have ceased production. However, the final
debt restructuring plan was approved by the court only in December 2017 when a new investor came.
Since 2017 In November 2016, Giovanni Castiglioni and the UK-Russian fund COMSAR Invest (part of the
Black Ocean Group, managed by the Sardarov family) agreed to conclude an investment agreement. The new debt restructuring plan for MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. was approved by the court in March 2017. At the same time the protective act "
Concordato di continuità" (
English: continuity agreement) was extended. To the mid of 2017 Black Ocean Group acquired 49% of the shares of MV Agusta Holding (parent company of MV Agusta Motor S.p.A.) and Giovanni Castiglioni kept 51%.
Mercedes-AMG received payment from the parties for its 25% in November 2017. In March 2018, Giovanni Castiglioni, the
CEO of MV Agusta, announced that the company was working on three new motorcycles based on a new 1,000 cc engine. The bikes consisted of a naked roadster, a café style roadster, and a replacement of the F4 superbike that will cease production in December 2018. The F4 replacement could be electric/gas hybrid, reportedly making more than 300 horsepower, and potentially would not be ready for production until 2021. At the
EICMA 2018 MV Agusta announced the a new family of 1,000 cc in-line "fours" created by MV technical director Brian Gillen and chief designer Adrian Morton.
Brutale 1000 Serie Oro with 208 hp (or 212 hp with full exhaust system) and 115 Nm allowed to achieve a maximum of 312 km/h, was introduced as the world's most powerful and fastest naked bike. It was also won a title of the most beautiful bike of EICMA 2018 (35% of visitors' votes ahead of 19% for
Ducati Hypermotard SP and 9% for
Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory). At
EICMA 2018 MV Agusta also introduced two new models. The first was the world's first neo-classic racer
Superveloce 800 Serie Oro, built on the platform of the
F3 800 (148 hp) with the design inspired by Italian sports cars of the 1960s and 1970s. The second one was the
F4 Claudio – the last and the greatest model in the F4 history that paid tribute to Claudio Castiglioni. Superveloce 800 Serie Oro was limited by 300 units and F4 Claudio – by 100 units. At the end of 2018 MV Agusta was recapitalized by extra 40 million euros. In the same year, Timur Sardarov was appointed the
CEO of MV Agusta. In October 2019, MV presented a new five-year business plan, promising annual production growth up to 25,000 units in 5 years. Massimo Bordi, was appointed deputy general director, and Paolo Bettin was appointed financial director. Former president of the company Giovanni Castiglioni kept the role of a consultant. The plan also included a strategic expansion into new market segments, including adventure, electric recreational, and urban mobility. In 2020 MV Agusta produced the
MV Agusta Superveloce, a retro racer styled motorcycle based on the F3 800 Supersport. It is described by MV Agusta as
"a modern interpretation of the iconic stylistic concept of the MV Agusta. A fusion of vintage and contemporary ensures that the future incorporates the memories of good times gone by" In July 2021, the segment expansion took place when MV Agusta launched its e-bike line, AMO, with two models, the AMO RR and AMO RC. Later that year, in November 2021, the company unveiled the Rapido Serie Oro, an electric scooter. In November 2022,
Pierer Mobility acquired a 25.1% minority stake in MV Agusta by way of a capital increase. Pierer Mobility, will provide MV Agusta with supply chain support, take over of purchasing and global sales activities. In March 2024, the stake was increased to 50,1%. In 2023, MV Agusta's entry into the adventure segment, initiated with the Lucky Explorer project, culminated in the launch of the
LXP (Luxury Performance) adventure series. In November, the company released the
LXP Orioli, a limited-edition model of 500 units paying tribute to two-time Dakar winner Edi Orioli. In early 2024, the standard production version, the
LXP Enduro Veloce, was unveiled, which combined a new 931cc three-cylinder engine with off-road capability. In January 2025, with the financial crisis of
Pierer Mobility (KTM) and its subsequent acquisition by
Bajaj Auto, MV Agusta returns under the full control of the Sardarov Family. ==Racing history==