History

1907 > 1907 The story of Agusta started in 1907, when Count Giovanni Agusta, a Sicilian aristocrat with a passion for flying machines, founded the Agusta aeronautics company. He soon moved to Northern Italy, in Cascina Costa near today’s Malpensa airport. Count Giovanni died in 1927, his widow Countess Giuseppina and son Domenico succeeded him at the helm of the family business. After the war the airplane industry had dramatically declined, and Domenico decided to diversify into motorcycles, yet airplane production was not abandoned. It soared again through World War II, but motorcycles had definitively entered the company’s DNA.

1945 > 1960 As a consequence of the war, airplane production was forbidden in Italy, so the Agustas focused on motorcycles. They created the MV “Meccaniche Verghera” brand in 1945. The first MV branded motorcycle was officially launched in the autumn of that year. Originally. It went down in history as the “MV 98”. The Agustas’ passion for avionics clearly showed in their motorcycles, giving them a raging racing soul, and the MV 98 started a winning streak for the brand that was to last for decades. 

1960 > 1992 Mass car ownership caused a sharp decline in the sales of production motorbikes, yet Agusta’s response was to offer ever more innovative models that appealed to the true motorcycle enthusiasts. The strategy paid off also thanks to MV’s uninterrupted success on the race track. 1965 was the start of what was probably the most celebrated combination in the history of motorcycle racing: that of Giacomo Agostini and MV’s inline three-cylinder engine.

1992 > 2014 In 1992 the MV Agusta trademark was acquired by Claudio Castiglioni’s Cagiva (CAstiglioni GIovanni VArese), that had started producing motorcycles under its own brand twelve years earlier in Schiranna, on the shores of Lake Varese, after taking over the ailing Aermacchi-Harley-Davidson short-lived venture. The move proved immediately successful as the MV Agusta brand had retained most of its enormous popularity with racing bike enthusiasts.

2014 > Present In 2014 Mercedes AMG enters the company as share-holder to remain there until 2017, when it sells its share package to ComSar Invest headed by Timur Sardarov. ComSar Invest gradually expands its equity in the company, first gaining a controlling share and then full ownership in 2019. Timur Sardarov becomes CEO of MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. Consistent capital injections and important investments, as well as a renewed management team set MV Agusta on a steady recovery path. A new business strategy and attitude, contained in an ambitious plan, is developed and implemented. In November 2022, MV Agusta and PIERER Mobility agrees on a strategic cooperation: KTM AG, a company of PIERER Mobility, provides MV Agusta with supply chain support and take over the purchasing; MV Agusta partly distributes its product range via PIERER Mobility’s worldwide distribution network. KTM AG acquires a 25.1% stake in MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. by way of a capital increase.