Aprilia Back On Track

APRILIA BACK ON TRACK

ROUNDUP

FORGET WHAT YOU MAY have heard or read elsewhere: Italian bike-maker Aprilia is alive and kicking, having weathered several serious financial storms, caused by, among other things, owner Ivano Beggio’s impassioned purchase of fabled marque Moto Guzzi.

Including the initial purchase of the rights (and remaining debt) to the Guzzi Golden Eagle, refurbishing the aging factory in Mandello del Lario and establishing the current Breva line, Beggio coughed up more than $100 million, greatly lightening company coffers.

“Mr. Beggio was in a bidding process,” explains Tom McDonald, Aprilia USA general manager. “He paid considerably more than what the net asset value of the company was at the time.

But he loves Moto Guzzi; his childhood ambition was to own the company. So when it became available, he went after it.”

For years, Aprilia had relied on the sale of small-bore scooters to pay the bills, but when the bottom fell out of that market several years ago-brought about

by a mandatory helmet law in t~ Italy-overall j unit sales plummeted by nearly one-third almost overnight. The company repositioned itself fairly quickly, developing larger 150, 200 and 500cc scooters, but the damage was done.

More recently, currency exchange rates have been the stumbling block.

“We’ve lost roughly 25 percent with the dollar’s fluctuation against the Euro in the last year and a half,” says McDonald. “And that hurts.”

So, yes, there are financial concerns, but are they lifethreatening? Not by any

means, alleges McDonald.

“I don’t envision this as being any different from any other company that has needed a financial infusion to keep on its growth pattern,” he says. “Mr. Beggio has pulled together all the resources he needs to continue design and development. I think the growth that the industry will see in the next three years will be remarkable.”

Growth is exactly what Aprilia has experienced in the four years it has been in the U.S. Last year, sales were up nearly 10 percent. Combined with Moto Guzzi (up 45 percent), it sold more than 6000 units. Yet it’s no time for a slow-down.

“We’ve spent so much time and energy over the past three years turning around Moto Guzzi,” says McDonald.

“Now, we’re switching gears to the Aprilia side of it.”

Speaking of which, great interest surrounds the liquidcooled 450cc V-Twin supermoto bike that made its ontrack debut last year, and finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Italian Championship season-opener this past April. The engine remains in development, but progress has been remarkably public, largely because Aprilia has little—if any-competition in this category.

“The horsepower that the engine is producing is phenomenal,” enthuses McDonald. “We’re looking at no less than three different platforms-enduro, motocross and supermoto.” There’s also talk of a sportbike and a middleweight version of the popular Tuono naked-bike.

Overall, McDonald is upbeat. “Right now, we have more revenue from fewer distinct models,” he says. “So the outlook is much, much better.”

Matthew Miles