Laverda brand on the shelf

rbpjenkins

rbpjenkins

Junior member
Location
Oxfordshire
this is hearsay but food for a discussion: On a whim a while ago I started a conversation with the most senior person I could get a response from at Piaggio. Long story short, after some probing he basically said they wouldn't produce a Laverda as it would risk cannibalising sales from their existing portfolio. Personally I think that's an over simplification of the market, I would have thought something like a Jota produced with the core characteristics of an old one but with modern technology would sell to people who wouldn't have bought a Moto Guzzi but who knows?

They have also publicly said that they would sell the brand to an investor, does anyone know if anyone has attempted a plan in recent years?
 
Taking market share away from existing brands in the portfolio is one thing. A new development and its amortization is another.

IMHO it wouldn't be enough to develope one modern Jota, it would probably take more than one model to bring the Laverda brand near to customers again today.

The associated development costs, including software for engine control, homologation for the target markets, etc., are immense. If you can then only use a small market share in the calculation of the volume, so to speak, little from little, it wouldn't help much when calculating the pay-back periods of the huge investments involved.

Money could be saved if an existing engine/engines would be used. But if this could be translated into a "real" Laverda" would be another story altoghether ...
 
rbpjenkins said:
...they wouldn't produce a Laverda as it would risk cannibalising sales from their existing portfolio.
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So I understand it. The purpose of buying the Laverda name was to eliminate a possible rival to Aprilia, a brand which they had already invested in - an investment which is now producing pay-back.

That said, I hazard that the Laverda name has, by now, pretty much lost any market recognition (which, let's be honest, was never that great, certainly not compared to say, Norton).
 
Ventodue said:
So I understand it. The purpose of buying the Laverda name was to eliminate a possible rival to Aprilia, a brand which they had already invested in - an investment which is now producing pay-back.

That said, I hazard that the Laverda name has, by now, pretty much lost any market recognition (which, let's be honest, was never that great, certainly not compared to say, Norton).
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probably true, just frustrates the hell out of me to see brands like Triumph which like them or not have done a great job of growing with new models as well as preserving a range with genuine connection to their heritage. A new Bonneville really evokes the old one, but without the patch of oil under it :)
 
This response makes perfect sense when you take into account the fact that Aprilia sold off the newly designed Laverda triple engine to Benelli when they purchased Laverda. They obviously felt that the new 900 triple would blow the socks off an Aprilia losing their sales. Owning a Benelli tre Tornado RS I can certainly say " What a fantastic bike it is, goes like stink" an awesome bike indeed. Great competition for the likes of Aprilia at the time.
 
Yep Paul i think you are right - the only way some years back would have been to do it as they tried ie using a Aprilia powerplant - engine emission changes are bloody expensive , just look at Suzuki who are struggling to have a range - diluting your customer base between brands by using the same base components is not profitable - you need diversification - Audi VW Skoda Seat has achieved this with different user interface and body mods , all possible with mass volume - not so easy with motorcycle or indeed a combine harvester !
 
Paul Marx said:
Aprilia bought Laverda, Piaggio bought Aprilia.
Stop dreaming of Jotas. Any body conceiving a brand new large motorcycle today has no other choice than to go for electric motorisation.

Paul
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I get the acquisition sequence and the motivation. On electric bikes I guess it's inevitable. I'm not looking forward to it! On paper they should make great performance characteristics but my experience with cars: I have a petrol Mustang GT V8 5L and just also got a Mach E GT (the electric 'Mustang'). Whilst the electric is actually significantly faster than the petrol one, the experience is nothing like as rewarding: no revs and gears to get right, just put your foot down and 'whoosh'. Impressive, but not satisfying
 
rbpjenkins said:
I get the acquisition sequence and the motivation. On electric bikes I guess it's inevitable. I'm not looking forward to it! On paper they should make great performance characteristics but my experience with cars: I have a petrol Mustang GT V8 5L and just also got a Mach E GT (the electric 'Mustang'). Whilst the electric is actually significantly faster than the petrol one, the experience is nothing like as rewarding: no revs and gears to get right, just put your foot down and 'whoosh'. Impressive, but not satisfying
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And possibly more dangerous to the inexperienced
 
rbpjenkins said:
this is hearsay but food for a discussion: On a whim a while ago I started a conversation with the most senior person I could get a response from at Piaggio. Long story short, after some probing he basically said they wouldn't produce a Laverda as it would risk cannibalising sales from their existing portfolio. Personally I think that's an over simplification of the market, I would have thought something like a Jota produced with the core characteristics of an old one but with modern technology would sell to people who wouldn't have bought a Moto Guzzi but who knows?

They have also publicly said that they would sell the brand to an investor, does anyone know if anyone has attempted a plan in recent years?
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Hi, I'm not an investor, but any idea of a salesprice?
 
Paul Marx said:
Our grandchildren will have no problem. We are the inexperienced.

Paul
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I know my petrol, 2 WD Mustang spins and slides like crazy. The electric one has more power but, 4WD and all sorts of traction control. Will eBikes ever manage 2 WD? most likely, a lot of power, immediately available through 1 back wheel. No doubt they will all have traction control but if you can turn that off they will be a handful!
 
Jo said:
Taking market share away from existing brands in the portfolio is one thing. A new development and its amortization is another.

IMHO it wouldn't be enough to develope one modern Jota, it would probably take more than one model to bring the Laverda brand near to customers again today.

The associated development costs, including software for engine control, homologation for the target markets, etc., are immense. If you can then only use a small market share in the calculation of the volume, so to speak, little from little, it wouldn't help much when calculating the pay-back periods of the huge investments involved.

Money could be saved if an existing engine/engines would be used. But if this could be translated into a "real" Laverda" would be another story altoghether ...
Click to expand...
Never stopped Laverda in the past to build a bike that: a) they never made their money back; b) used someone else’s engine…😜
 
Beucars said:
Sorry for my (Lack of) english. I meant, how much will it cost me to acquire the Laverda name and brand?
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No doubt as much as they can get for it. Which would be more than most would pay, even if they had the finance to do something with the brand
 
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