After losing a pillar of the company and family like Claudio Castiglioni, MV Agusta can well do without reports like these.
According to unnamed sources quoted by A&R, MV Agusta is facing financial difficulties in finding new investment and credit, and paying upfront for its supplies.
That apparently means that the MV Agusta F3 might not see its 2012 production debut.
Already in the pipeline for a long time, enthusiasts have been waiting for the F3 to go into production and hit the market; and even though it debuted last year as a 2012 model there was no real reason at that stage to think it wouldn’t eventually be produced.
Since then, the company has taken the unusual initiative of releasing the highly exclusive and expensive MV Agusta F3 Serie Oro model first, rather than the standard version.
Perhaps to drum up some cash to put the rest into production…?A flawed reasoning if the cost of components is so high and there’s none left over for a standard model.
It’s difficult to manufacture a bike if you’ve got no parts to do it with it, and it looks like MV Agusta’s ambition to become a higher volume manufacturer is in some deep water right now.
Raising additional capital hasn’t happened, according to the sources, and apparently creditors and suppliers are wary of a regime that isn’t all that new.
A strategy like releasing an exclusive model off the back of expensive components is part of what got MV Agusta into losing money in the first place and proves that the company hasn’t achieved economies of scale.
Apparently that will all mean that we might not be seeing the F3 in showrooms as of April 2012 because there isn’t anything to make it with and no money to purchase parts and kick off production.
We’re going to be cautious in announcing the demise of MV Agusta already, and leave you to decide what a delayed F3 production might mean for the future of the company and the rest of its models.