Moto Morini resurrected

The Moto Morini saga has dragged out almost two years now, since the company filed for voluntary liquidation in October 2009 and now, finally, the Italian motorcycle manufacturer has found new owners in entrepreneurs Ruggeromassimo Jannuzzelli and Sandro Capotosti, trading under the name Eagle Bike.

It seems the company has been successfully auctioned off to Eagle Bike for a cool 1.96 million pounds, though the buyers refused to purchase the operations plant and factory in Bologna, instead opting to take intellectual property, the name and other assets.

The cost of manufacturing motorcycles is Italy is not getting cheaper, one of the reasons why Ducati and MV Agusta have begun moving operations to Asia and South America.

Moto Morini's new owners decided against buying the Bolognese production facilities, and talk is already turning to where the company will set up shop to build a new generation of Moto Morini products.

There have been several twists and turns in the Moto Morini tale. It all started the moment Moto Morini declared it would be shutting its doors, and then decided to refute the claims of shutting its doors. This was followed by a knight in shining armour committed to the company's long-term survival.

That deal then fell over and was followed by the announcement of an auction for Moto Morini in a bid to salvage some of the company assets. The original auction was set for €5.5 million for the company as a whole, including land, or €2.6 million for IP, names and assets without land. This then dropped to 4.65 million/1.95 million pounds -- and Eagle Bike duly responded to the latter price.

It will be interesting to see what eventuates in the Moto Morini tale. Can the company produce an MV Agusta-style comeback with a headline-making new motorcycle? Time will tell.

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