Claudio Castiglioni was the...
Claudio Castiglioni was the driving force behind much of the Italian motorcycle industry boom of the '80s and '90s.
Claudio Castiglioni—president of MV Agusta and one of the driving forces behind the Italian motorcycle industrial boom of the ‘80s and ‘90s—passed away today after a long battle against cancer. While the 64-year-old Italian business entrepreneur is mostly known today for resurrecting the storied MV Agusta brand from the ashes of bankruptcy and building it back up into one of the only true boutique marques in the motorcycle industry, Castiglioni was also responsible for the rescue of other European brands—most notably Ducati.
Ducati had undergone a difficult period of Italian government management during the ‘60s and ‘70s (a long story involving the Italian government helping finance the rebuilding of its industrial base after the second World War). Claudio Castiglioni, along with his brother Gianfranco, had created the Cagiva motorcycle company from the family’s metalworking and manufacturing business in 1978, and when he was given the opportunity to purchase Ducati in 1985, Castiglioni quickly took advantage of it.
" Castiglioni was responsible for many key decisions in Ducati’s modern history...
"
Castiglioni was responsible for many key decisions in Ducati’s modern history, including moving forward with then-Ducati engineer Massimo Bordi’s concept for a quattrodesmo (four valve desmodromic) cylinder head, which fueled the success of Ducati’s racing—and consequently, sport—motorcycles. Castiglioni was also responsible for bringing in the designer who penned the iconic Ducati 916, Massimo Tamburini.
When other sections of his manufacturing empire unrelated to motorcycles began to financially drag down the Cagiva Group (as the conglomerate of companies—including Cagiva, Ducati, Husqvarna, and Moto Morini—was then known), Castiglioni was reluctantly forced to sell off Ducati in 1996 to the Texas Pacific Group, a U.S. private equity investment firm. He then concentrated his efforts on resurrecting MV Agusta, the rights to which the Cagiva Group had purchased in 1991. Utilizing the design talents of Tamburini along with an engine designed with the help of Ferrari, the reborn MV Agusta company unveiled its F4 750cc in 1997. Evolutions of this chassis and powerplant have become the basis for MV’s expanding current lineup.
Difficulties with handling the company’s increasing debt led Castiglioni to engineer the purchase of the company in 2005 by Malaysian carmaker Proton, whose then-CEO was a motorcycle enthusiast. When a management restructuring at Proton forced out that CEO a year later however, Proton sold off its ownership of MV to an Italian investment holding company for a single euro. The continuing debt problems forced Castiglioni to sell the Husqvarna brand to BMW, the proceeds of which allowed MV to refinance its debt and continue production.
Interestingly, Harley-Davidson came into the picture by purchasing MV from Castiglioni (who still had a minority ownership in company shares) and the Italian investment holding company for $109 million in 2008. Apparently looking to expand MV Agusta’s presence in Europe—and most likely leverage that expansion’s dealer network to include Harley-Davidson’s reach into those markets—H-D helped finance R&D for new models that include the newly revised F4RR and the all-new middleweight F3 675cc triple.
New management at Harley-Davidson the following year quickly moved to try and right a decidedly listing financial ship during the onset of the global financial crisis, and decided that owning MV wasn’t such a good idea after all. In addition to controversially shutting down its Buell subsidiary, H-D also sold off MV—back to Castiglioni and his own holding company—last year. More importantly, all debt was wiped off the company books, and with Castiglioni’s son Giovanni handling most of the company’s direction now, in addition to bringing former Ducati manager Bordi into MV as vice president, it appears that the company—as well as Claudio Castiglioni’s legacy—has a bright future.