Moto Guzzi is dying. The factory's about 60 miles from here so they are like part of the family and that's a shame.
They have been muddling through the '90s before being taken over by Aprilia. The Aprilia group literally bled itself dry over Guzzi but made some big mistakes.
The MGS-01 was basically an uprated Daytona, so it was really cool, but failure to come up with a road version meant it did little to improve the company's image and financial situation. BMW thanked them when they sold the zillionth R1100S, proving there was some money to be made in this niche, especially when your rivals are paralyzed.
Yes, BMW... it's no mystery that Aprilia first and Piaggio now tried to aim their most profitable models at BMW. The original Breva was a shameless R850/1150R clone, the Norge was an attempt to take on the R11500/1200RT while the Stelvio is yet another attempt by a European manufacturer to follow in the wake of the mighty R1200GS.
In the meantime the typical "Guzzi feeling" started to disappear from the rest of the models as they tried to appeal to the "retro" crowd.
Faithful Moto Guzzi customers aren't interested in retro models: they want something on the line of the V11 Sport, the last Guzzi to sell good numbers.
End result: while the market was in its heydays in 2008 Moto Guzzi built less than 6000 bikes for the first time since they restarted operations after WWII. Last year they went below the 5000 bikes mark. Piaggio is using its political connection to force the Norge on the State Police but officers' unions are resisting: when they got their R850RT after years of overweight and unreliable "public contract" Guzzis it was like a dream coming true. Now they want the R900/1200RT.
This concept is just what Woodman said: they took a KTM and grafted a Confederate Wraith front end on it. It's not a Guzzi: this is something Suzuki could come up with.
