In 2011 Piaggio had warned that they would be closing the historic Derbi factory in Martorelles, Spain and move production to Italy as part of their restructioning program, that would have left between 150 and 230 workers without a job, in an already hard hit Spain, whose unemployment rate is now a staggering 26%.
The Italian group, who bought Derbi (DERivats de BIcicletes) in 2001, did attempt to find a buyer for the facilities and were in talks with Swiss investment company Giba, who seemed interested in investing 100 million euros to produce automobiles at the Spanish site, but the deal fell through leaving Piaggio no other option than file ERE proceedings and terminate the workers contracts and shut down the plant.
Spain will have to say good-bye to the marque that gave the country 12 GP world titles and numerous wins with riders like Angel Nieto, Ricardo Tormo, Aspar Martinez and Alex Crivillé.