Rumored Piaggio and Ducati merger deal intensifies
The Italian press is abuzz.
Italian newswire MF Dow Jones reported that McKinsey & Co Inc. (a management consulting firm advising leading companies on issues of strategy, organization, technology, and operations) has been contracted to study possible merger between Ducati and Piaggio, two Italian superbrands in the two-wheel motorcycle industry. But the news agency didn’t say where it got the information.
The Piaggio Group, makers of the iconic Vespa, also manufactures scooters under its own name, aside from these other brands: Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Scarabeo, Derbi, Gilera, and the French mid engine sports car Ligier. On the other hand, Ducati is a privately owned Italian motorcycle manufacturer which achieved prominence in the motorcycle industry and in motorcycle racing. The report said that McKinsey has been contracted to evaluate potential merger candidates for the struggling Piaggio Group and that the now privately-controlled Ducati is being tipped as the best option.
The Piaggio/Ducati merger is seen as the ultimate Eurobrand positioned to compete head-to-head with the Japanese Big Four (Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki, and Yamaha). Not only would such a super company have a a wide range of products, but it would also have the volume and the manufacturing capacity to tackle emerging markets in Southeast Asia.
But Piaggio Group’s top brass, in an official statement, defined as baseless, “any assumptions about possible integration of the Piaggio Group and other industry groups.” The company then goes on to deny “categorically, that they have heard of projects or documents of any kind, developed by McKinsey in relation to that hypothesis.”
Stay tuned!
~ABET
Abet, so the rumor still lives pala hehe.
This talk has been going on since Piaggio went on a buying spree of the other Italian brands but has never really materialized.
I, for one, wouldn’t mind the merger. Kailangan nila mag consolidate to break the stranglehold of the Japanese manufacturers. Piaggio lang kasi ang nakaka compete directly with these companies eh.
Great find!
Like the “new” combined logo. Maybe they’ll op for purple instead, being the combination of Piaggio’s blue and the red of Ducati.