have you seen the new Moto Guzzi website

[grossohc]

corsa italiana reckon it will be around £7500 in the uk.

Gary

[Skeeve]

Skeeve, I can't see how Guzzi can survive on just the Brevas and the Griso.

 

1. Guzzi probably gets a fair few repeat sales, and sales from the friends and acquaintances of proselytizing Guzzi owners. The Brevas are not a replacement bike for Cali and V11 beloved by current owners in a lot of cases.

 

Agreed.

 

2. They are not going to manage a high level of sales with only 2 models that whilst pretty good (Brevas) have a lot of competition in a crowded market, i.e. from BMW (which seems pretty aggressive and well funded), Triumph, Ducati and the Japs. How will they amortise their tooling and design?

 

As I understand it, Guzzis big problem right now [as Piaggio sees it] is that they cannot economically produce more than the handful of bikes they already are, due to inefficiencies associated with their old factory space. OTOH, nobody seems happy at the factory being moved elsewhere, even if it is (as in one proposal Aprilia fielded before their takeover) within commuting distance of the present factory workers. Something about "Mandello del Lario" appeals to not only the customers but the suppliers and employees as well!

 

Ergo, Piaggio's bean counters are complacent with cutting off the existing models in favor of production simplification, undoubtedly with the idea that A: newer designs attract more attention and sell better "...'cause it's NEW!" and B: by producing more of the new models cheaper, Guzzis overall sales volume will increase.

 

3. Worldwide, manufacturers in the car and bike world now realise that the days of clone mass production are over. The trick is to appear to make specials to suit niche customers, whilst achieving commonality of the expensive underpinning parts. Guzzi did this very successfully with V11, and seemed to understand. Triumph certainly understand the reality of the 21st century bike market, as do BMW who are expanding their range of different bikes like mad.

 

I agree that Guzzi seemed to be latched onto the Harley-Davidson idea of "model multiplication by stylistic proliferation," and that Piaggio, being based in the commodity scooter market may not understand the market dynamics of the higher-priced motorcycles as well as they think. Or maybe they do & I'm full of sh!t?

Time will tell...

 

Personally, I think if Guzzi dump the V11 and Cali ranges, they are finished. It may look a good idea to the bean counters, but bean counters are not customers, and it's the customers who buy the bikes.

 

I completely agree that Piaggio's decision to unceremoniously curtail the V11 (and wind down) the California/cruiser lines [the latter of which has really been the only thing keeping the company afloat the last 10 years] is incredibly unrealistic. But it may be like Ford's shutting down the factory for the major part of a year (8 months?) back when they were converting from producing the Model T to the Model A: perceived as insane at first, but in the long run, a gamble that transforms the company into a newer and more dynamic entity.

 

But overall, I'm betting on this being a failed experiment, and that late next year, Guzzi announces a new & improved Sport-like version of the Breva/Griso, and the new Eldorado makes an appearance to pick up from the lost California sales...

 

One can only hope!

[richard100t]

I would love to see a new model Eldorado! Those old bikes still do well on ebay. I can imagine if they did a good retro model it would sell a lot of bikes. I still think they should up the displacement, especially for a cruiser. But hey thats just my I know they wont do it anytime soon. I dont know why they ever quit building the Eldo's in the first place.

[Ballacraine]

The website would be a bit sparse without all those V11s! The Breva 1100 and 750s are just two bikes with maybe a different market appeal to the V11 range.

 

Surely it would be possible without much investment to keep the V11 style with Breva 1100 running gear, and the current higher spec front forks?

 

That would give them updated sports tourers that could retain the current range of colours and variations, maybe a bit fewer is ok. But an updated V11 with the Breva engine, gearbox and swingarm would be a FAR nicer bike than the ugly duckling Breva.

 

Everyone says how nice the Breva rides. I bet it would be even nicer with a sportier focus and the looks of the V11.

 

Come on Guzzi!

57306[/snapback]

 

For me, there are 'nice' bikes and there are 'nasty' bikes.

 

The Brevas are a 'nice' bike. ...Very Honda or BMW type 'nice.'

 

I like the edge of the V11...In certain guises it is a good 'nasty' bike. For instance, I think what they did with the Scura made a good 'nasty' bike!

 

'Nasty' bikes are bikes with attitude....Now if you junk the power station exhaust of the prototype Griso and put something fruity on...There you have a really 'nasty' bike.

 

They need nasty bikes in their line up too!

 

Nige.