MV Agusta CEO Timur Sardarov about the brand’s Indian operations
Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta is looking forward to signing up with a new partner to resume its Indian operations. It was in February 2020 that MV Agusta ended its partnership with multi-brand motorcycle retailer, MotoRoyale Kinetic. At the time, the Pune-based dealer network had five exclusive motorcycle brands under its belt: MV Agusta, Norton Motorcycle, SWM, FB Mondial and Hyosung.
Around the same period, financial struggles made Norton Motorcycle Company go into administration in the UK. The Indian market was supposed to get a new 650cc middleweight (dubbed 650 Atlas) in a joint venture between Norton and MotoRoyale Kinetic. It is said that Norton’s situation in the UK indirectly led MotoRoyale through a difficult business path. Norton Motor Company was later acquired by TVS Motor Company for roughly Rs 153 crore.
Coming back to MV Agusta, the company sold products that appealed to a niche segment of premium motorcycle buyers in the country. Prices were significantly high compared to something like a Ducati despite packing roughly the same (or sometimes lesser) performance. On the other hand, Japanese brands such as Kawasaki, Yamaha Motor and Honda Motorcycle had arguably better alternatives at considerably lower price tags. Towards the end of its initial presence in India, MV Agusta motorcycles were sold at discounts up to Rs 6 lakh.
As per Timur Sardarov, CEO of MV Agusta, the Italian brand will be appointing a new partner to continue business in India. He commented that the ties with MotoRoyale Kinetic were broken as “there were constant misinterpretations of the contract”. In addition to this, he stated that MotoRoyale Kinetic could not represent MV Agusta in the right way — skip to 09:55 in the video shared above.
MV Agusta’s Indian portfolio remained Euro-4 compliant (analogous to BS4 emission norms) till its temporary exit. The company plans to update its product to higher European emission norms as well as BS6 sometime next year (exact timeline is unknown). The process will be carried out in a phased manner but we can expect a clear picture of what the brand would have to offer in India, in a few months’ time.
The MV Agusta section on MotoRoyale Kinetic’s official website still remains active. It lists only four products: F3 800 RC, Dragster 800 RR, Turismo Veloce 800 and Brutale 800 RR America. Since they are compliant to BS4 emission norms, the motorcycles cannot be purchased new. Most likely, unofficial deals might have taken place to clear the stock at the very last minute. Ex-showroom prices stood in the range of Rs 15-22 lakh.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
