Goodbye Mandello - Guzzi

[Casalambretta]

RJVB wrote:

Please also see my latest posts in the GMG2009 thread...

Welcome, Alex. Some kind of first post!

So, what was your impression of Toresan? Somebody who cares about the marque and understands historical value(s), or Just Another Manager who cares about very different abstract things, if at all? In the interview I read with him (in a French magazine), I rather thought he cares ... but then he's on a PR position...

Thanks and sorry for the late reply RJVB.

Toresan left a similar, probably better, position at MV Agusta to do the PR work for Guzzi. He cares a lot about the marque but also has to deal with Piaggio which can be very frustrating for him. The fact that he's still there at Guzzi means a lot, he was pretty down a couple of years ago and though he's still gets frustrated, is still optimistic.

The results of Monday's meeting between Piaggio and local officials also looks pretty good for the Eagle in Mandello


AlexM

 

[FrostBittenCanadian]

OK,... Let me get this straight. Something, is published ,somewhere, somehow, by the sage Ivar de Glar ( a historian, who by the way... I've never heard of till this post. Funny, I've been reading everything I find published about bikes of all makes, old and new since I was 15 years old) and the wagons are circled, widows wailing ect.ect. and it turns out to be untrue... ha ha ha ha ha ha. Sould have put more stock in the Italian guy I know who owns a couple of Guzzis and an Aprillia, with 2 cousins who live in Mandello that told him ' would never happen'. Supposedly one of them works at Guzzi. You live and learn I guess.
FBC

 

[Casalambretta]

I never heard of him either until his declaration of the death of Mandello and the factory.

AlexM

 

[5154Guzzi]

I didn`t read Ivar`s statement as a ` Declaration of Death ` but as a statement starting off " if the information before me is correct " based upon friends he has in Mandello who WORK for Moto Guzzi and memos from Piaggio. I find your disrespectful and distasteful comments obnoxious and out of line.

like a few, I hope Ivar`s information is wrong and that Moto Guzzi maintains a presence in Mandello. If not I`ll be saddened as well but if progess means moving to Noale or wherever , so be it. Lighten up on Ivar guys, he deserves much more respect than you are giving him. Bill Ross

 

[Casalambretta]

How is never having heard of him disrespectful? My great grandparents, grandparents and mom were born in Mandello, i grew up in Mandello and rowed for the Moto Guzzi junior scully team while finishing high school in Lecco (because there isn't one in Mandello), most of my team mates worked at the factory. Umberto Todaro was a close family friend who always took me with him to work in the factory from the 70's until he passed away, his daughter Egizia still works with my aunt (in mandello).

And none of that means i know more about Guzzi than him or anyone else, I just ride them and spend a lot of time in Mandello....but just because he's "been" there or know someone who works there doesn't mean anything to me, he's still a non-italian i had never heard of quoting hearsay on the internets and i'll treat his rumors as such until proven otherwise.

AlexM

 

[kwn306]

Casalambretta wrote:

Ok, I just got off the phone with Toresan, Chief press officer for Guzzi, I'm fluent in Italian so I don't need to decipher broken English:

1. The Guzzi employees are back at work this week in Mandello, assembling motorcycles.
2. As of last December, Moto Guzzi as a company doesn't exist anymore, it has been completely and officially been absorbed by Piaggio
3. Guzzi sales are down 39% from last year, companies in Italy have the option to lay off it's workers for short periods of time at a reduced salary to save money during slow periods. If anyone has been paying attention, Aprilia has had more of these temp. layoffs this year than Guzzi has. He doesn't rule out any more for the Guzzi workers later this year.
4. All of the European motorcycle manufacturers were recently in Brussels looking for financial help as was given to the euro Auto industry recently.
5. As i was on the phone with him he was printing a news report saying that the Guzzi workers were planning various strikes at the plant.

That's all, I'm not claiming that I invented Moto Guzzi, but this is information from them directly and they are more Moto Guzzi than anyone right now. Anyone wanna call the Guzzi office (in Italy) themselves feel free the number is +39 02-76212649.

AlexM
(Todd knows me & Daniele)

If Guzzi sales are down 39% what are the other manufactures in Eroupe experiencing? How about the Japs? If the down turn is universal maybe there isn't a problem with the factory being old, small, out dated, etc. amybe its just the economy that's effecting the bottom line, that's all the pencil pushers worry about anyhow. BTW, HD sales in the USA stink big time and they are closing 3 or 4 production facilities by the end of the year. HD stock is worth crap about right now.

 

[RJVB]

++ Alex

Ivar de Gier is a motorcycle historian, as we're told. I've never heard of that speciality, but historians are experts about the past, not the future (except if they're called Harry Seldon) ... and they can be mistaken as well as any of us.

Alex, if you don't know this video, have a look. It's got some footage of Umberto Todero that you'll appreciate, since you've known him personally.

http://cinocheproduction.free.fr/videos/aigle.wmv

 

[peterjones]

So where they gonna build Guzzi's? Guangdong? Akron? Baghdad?

I hear some of the Monza 500's in the '80's were made at the Inocenti plant and various tiddler Guzzis in the 50's and 60's were made in Turkey, Spain, Italy and other places.

So it doesn't really matter where the bike is made.

I've been down to the new Guzzi showroom in Long Beach and liked what I saw. If I wasn't about to be laid off myself I'd probably sign on the line and ride one off the floor.

Geez, 14,000 bikes a year?! That's their break-even? Or not even, that's their profit!

I mean 14,000 bikes must amount to a rounding error for any of the big Asian bike builders.

Doesn't seem like it would take all that huge of a plant to turn out that many bikes.

 

[Casalambretta]

RJVB wrote:

++ Alex

Alex, if you don't know this video, have a look. It's got some footage of Umberto Todero that you'll appreciate, since you've known him personally.

http://cinocheproduction.free.fr/videos/aigle.wmv

That is some very nice editing, a great thing about Todaro is that he didn't care where you came from, how old you were or anything, he always took the same time to describe each bike with a smile... all while being modest, he really was the last great one to walk the factory on a regular basis.

kwn306 wrote:

If Guzzi sales are down 39% what are the other manufactures in Eroupe experiencing? How about the Japs? If the down turn is universal maybe there isn't a problem with the factory being old, small, out dated, etc. amybe its just the economy that's effecting the bottom line, that's all the pencil pushers worry about anyhow. BTW, HD sales in the USA stink big time and they are closing 3 or 4 production facilities by the end of the year. HD stock is worth crap about right now.

It's not just a Guzzi problem, just look at Chrysler and GM.. Toyota posted it's first loss last quarter etc. I think the difference is that Guzzi was barely making it, if at all, when times were good so they're in a weaker position in the downturn if Piaggio hangs them out to dry, otherwise i think Guzzi will be ok if Piaggio keeps it on their broad shoulders.

AlexM