Mandello factory closure

[Paul Minnaert]

I think since 2000, development wasn't done in mandello, but noale. I think the sales of the current range isn't that big, that Piaggio is excited about it. Please don't start why that is.

The 8v must have cost a huge ammount of money, and they aren't selling so much of them. So calculation running costs againg sales income, makes that something (big) has to change. The grounds where the factory is on, is worth good money, and appartments will be build. I think Beggio still has his hands in that.

 

But surprising is that a complete production line was build 2 years ago, with new engine asembly line. So things have changed worse fast. I suppose production/assembly goes to Pontedera.

[Tom M]

If the article is true I'm sad for the end of an era, and for anyone who may lose their job, but moving production to a modern facility will in theory produce better motorcycles at reduced costs. The part that I really don't like, even though it's probably already happened, is this: "And while the distinguishing characteristics of the Moto Guzzi brand will remain intact, it permits what the parent calls “significant economies of scale by rationalising the technical, industrial, design and style operations of the two companies”". What this likely means is there will be an office complex full of engineers, some of whom will be assigned Aprilia projects, some will get Guzzi projects, and some will get scooters. Maybe each engineer will work on all three product lines at the same time. IMO this will lead to a sameness across the brands and Guzzi will lose much of it's uniqueness. Will Guzzi at least have a dedicated lead designer, or will the same guy, girl, or team be doing Apes, Guzzis and scooters simultaneously?

 

Ideally I'd like to see the Mandello facility become the Moto Guzzi design and R&D center, but I think it's too late for that. I'm glad I have my Mandello Guzzi!

[Greg Field]

A business model? Sure. Independant design center run by motorcycle professionals. If it doen't matter wherethey're built, why does it matter what badge is on the tank? Just get a Honda and be done with it.

 

To see Guzzis future, look at the Aprilia scooter line. They replaced the great-handling Aprilia scooters one-by-one with rebadged junk Piaggios, some made in China. Chinese quality is superior to Piaggio's, I can tell you.

 

Hell, look at your 8v engine. It's a throwaway as soon as it sees a bit of wear. You can't even replace the vavle guides or front main bearing. Look what these clowns did to the best parts numbering system in the business. Tossed out for a non-system.

[Steve G.]

A business model? Sure. Independant design center run by motorcycle professionals. If it doen't matter wherethey're built, why does it matter what badge is on the tank? Just get a Honda and be done with it.

 

To see Guzzis future, look at the Aprilia scooter line. They replaced the great-handling Aprilia scooters one-by-one with rebadged junk Piaggios, some made in China. Chinese quality is superior to Piaggio's, I can tell you.

 

Hell, look at your 8v engine. It's a throwaway as soon as it sees a bit of wear. You can't even replace the vavle guides or front main bearing. Look what these clowns did to the best parts numbering system in the business. Tossed out for a non-system.

 

The 8V engine you talk about, is that a Guzzi, or Aprilia?

I agree with your re-badging crap. It just feels bad to me.

 

Conversations I had in Italy regarding MV Agusta made me realize that Harley Davidson's purchase of MV, and BMW's purchase of Husqvarna from Cagiva had to happen. The investement to make the current series of MV Agustas cost over $200millionUS. With production of a mere 5000 hand assembled bikes a year, you can never expect a profit, ever. Moto Guzzi's production levels, around the same I think, can never lend themselves to pay for re-tooling, so the factory can only continue it's small production of hand assembled bikes. But, if money and cost are the main reasons for moving Guzzi production south west, one has to wonder what they will do with the factory. There appears to be no other manufacturing base in Mandello, so no prospects for renting the buildings out. I would guess that means pushing the buildings down for housing [Meriden Close, the housing development where the old Triumph factory once was] , or selling the place outright. What to do with the old factory, that's the real asset, other than the brand name which they have.

I can see the old guard of Guzzi owners around the world having trouble accepting a non-Mandello bike. This is something I hope Piaggio has taken into account.

Steve

[Dimitris]

Jesus. Everyone goes on about poor quality control, expensive bikes and parts and a host of other issues and then when someone, even though it is a huge transnational corporation, tries to drag the company kicking and screaming into the later part of the 20'th century everybody starts shrieking about how important Mandello is.

 

HAve you ever been to the factory? It's a crumbling, tween-wars Fascist edifice right in the centre of a small town. It is quite possibly one of the WORST sites for a modern manufacturing plant possible. Its a dreadful dump! Yes of course the history is important but the museum can be kept there and there will continue to be strong links to Mandello as Gillardoni and a host of other suppliers are there.

 

I'm sorry but I find this sort of lachrymose sentimentality a bit stomach turning.

 

Oh and the Gilera 4's had nothing in common with and were not developments of the MV 4's. Different machines, different companies.

 

Pete

 

+100000000

 

 

 

Guzzi needs money (if Guzzi wants to sell bikes and have profits)

To achieve this Guzzi went under the umbrella of Piaggio.

Since 2004-05 Guzzi has started a "big production" according to the company's history. Who could imagine that we should see so many new models (Breva 1100, Griso 1100, Norge, V7).

And not only this but a NEW ENGINE, with almost 80% refreshed. 8v, 1200cc, new CARC (that goes also for the previous models).

 

And you tell me that MG is facing the END???

 

The way I see it, MG is facing the future, with Piaggio providing the money! I DON'T really CARE is the production line moves to somewhere else! I love MANDELLO and I believe that it will never be destroyed and that Italians will recognize its history!

 

WHAT I WANT? I want GUZZI to continue to exist!! I want GUZZI to continue to produce bikes! The way that only Guzzi knows how to, even if the production move to Sicily...

 

The only way for this to happen is MONEY. Piaggio is MONEY.....

[rocker59]

I love MANDELLO and I believe that it will never be destroyed and that Italians will recognize its history!

 

...with a commemortive plaque on the wall of the new apartment/condo complex that'll replace the grand old factory!

[Dimitris]

...with a commemortive plaque on the wall of the new apartment/condo complex that'll replace the grand old factory!

What do you really people want?

 

Guzzi as Guzzi was in the '90s? With 3.000 maximum production, with bad supply, with financial problems facing bankruptcy? (But still in Mandello..?)

 

Guzzi must survive. And for this to happen, the factory must become competitive. If Piaggio believes that Mandello can't become/provide a modern line of production, then OK.

Let's face the truth. What do we want? We want Guzzi bikes! Griso 8v, Stelvio, Breva are Guzzi bikes. And still we are at the beginning....

I choose the optimistic version...

[GuzziMoto]

What do you really people want?

 

Guzzi as Guzzi was in the '90s? With 3.000 maximum production, with bad supply, with financial problems facing bankruptcy? (But still in Mandello..?)

 

Guzzi must survive. And for this to happen, the factory must become competitive. If Piaggio believes that Mandello can't become/provide a modern line of production, then OK.

Let's face the truth. What do we want? We want Guzzi bikes! Griso 8v, Stelvio, Breva are Guzzi bikes. And still we are at the beginning....

I choose the optimistic version...

I see where your coming from, and I respect what your saying. But in answer to your question, "What do you really people want?", I want Guzzi's that are Guzzi's. Not Aprilias or Piaggios with Guzzi badges. If that is what they get reduced to (not saying that will happen, only that it might), they will lose me as a customer. I would rather see a Harley style rebirth of Guzzi, or even Ducati style. Triumph seems to have found a balance between old and new as well, although it took them a bit long to find it. I not saying the end is here, but I can see it from my house.

[steffen]

A business model? Sure. Independant design center run by motorcycle professionals. If it doen't matter wherethey're built, why does it matter what badge is on the tank? Just get a Honda and be done with it.

 

Actually I thought it didn't matter to me, where they build the bikes, but you're so right about this.

The heritage is part of the guzzi experience to me.

 

 

/Steffen

[Richard]

I see where your coming from, and I respect what your saying. But in answer to your question, "What do you really people want?", I want Guzzi's that are Guzzi's. Not Aprilias or Piaggios with Guzzi badges. If that is what they get reduced to (not saying that will happen, only that it might), they will lose me as a customer. I would rather see a Harley style rebirth of Guzzi, or even Ducati style. Triumph seems to have found a balance between old and new as well, although it took them a bit long to find it. I not saying the end is here, but I can see it from my house.

 

In that case, what makes a Guzzi a Guzzi? It is not that it is built at Mandello. If you want a "proper Guzzi" then you have to go out and buy one which was built when Guzzi was independent. You cannot tie any badge to a specific place of manufacture. The days of a Guzzi like the types which you are referring to are long gone. Even the later V11s have some Aprilia in them, does that make them not proper Guzzis? Of course not. Guzzi needs to pull itself out of the 1970s and it is only going to be able to do that with Piaggio's money. If that means a relocation, then so be it!

[Skeeve]

Ultimately, converting the factory in Mandello to an office complex and keeping the Guzzi design ctr. and museum there while rationalizing production by moving it to Pontedera would not mean "the end of Guzzi" as it would retain a separate brain trust in Mandello, close to the history of the brand. The reason people are forecasting the doom of Guzzi as a recognizable brand is that Piaggio's decision to roll all facets of production and shutter the factory pretty much discloses that Guzzi is no longer distinct from any other part of Piaggio than Oldsmobile [once the technological frontrunner, now gone] was of General Motors.

 

In short, the handwriting is on the wall for Guzzi becoming no more memorable than any other bland corporate product of a huge conglomerate. When's the last time Honda had a product that excited you [that wasn't a concept bike that never made it to production/distribution outside Japan?]

 

Some people see the glass as half-empty, others see it as half-full. An engineer sees that you have 2x the glass needed. Can Guzzi benefit from more modern production facilities? Yes. Does the move to Pontedera automatically mean that Guzzi is doomed? No. Does the elimination of a separate Guzzi, with all production, testing and engineering taking place elsewhere mean Guzzi is gone? Hard to say "No" to that!

[Mario]

If the rumours are true, my picture of the world as I see it is smashed to pieces. For me, since I was a little boy of 9-10 years old, Moto Guzzi has represented a myth from the past. That myth is linked to Mandello del Lario and when I drove there lfirst time last summer on my Lemans, walking around in the town and visiting the museum and parts of the factory,

I really felt like being a part of the myth and the history.

 

If the rumours are true it is a sad day.

If the rumours are true I will never sell my V11:s from Mandello.

If the rumours are true I will buy me a house in Mandello and drive my V11:s like a ghost around lake Como for eternity.

 

Mario

[Steve G.]

If the rumours are true, my picture of the world as I see it is smashed to pieces. For me, since I was a little boy of 9-10 years old, Moto Guzzi has represented a myth from the past. That myth is linked to Mandello del Lario and when I drove there lfirst time last summer on my Lemans, walking around in the town and visiting the museum and parts of the factory,

I really felt like being a part of the myth and the history.

 

If the rumours are true it is a sad day.

If the rumours are true I will never sell my V11:s from Mandello.

If the rumours are true I will buy me a house in Mandello and drive my V11:s like a ghost around lake Como for eternity.

 

Mario

 

If the factory closes, it would be interesting to see what happens to house prices. It is a most lovely area, heck George Cloony lives down the street!!

Steve

[richard100t]

A new production facility is a good thing. The question that remains is whether or not the most recent owners of the company will build a bike that we will want to buy. People are passionate about their motorcycles, but as a factory worker myself I can tell you that its a whole lot of different parts brought together in a building. The better the facility is designed for the job, the better the product will be. If the manufacturing were being outsourced to a third world country for cheap, near slave labor that would be one thing. But to still build the bikes in Italy with Italian engineers & designers....I will reserve judgement until after the new products hit the street.

 

Theres an old Billy Joel song with a line in it that goes " the good old days werent always good & tomorrow aint as bad as it seems".

The first person to guess the name of the song gets a music point

[FuelCooler]

Theres an old Billy Joel song with a line in it that goes " the good old days werent always good & tomorrow aint as bad as it seems".

The first person to guess the name of the song gets a music point

 

 

That would be 'Keeping the Faith'!