After financial difficulties and being sold on the auction block, Moto Morini is now firmly back in business and this is the first motorcycle they will be producing Rebello 1200 Giubileo (Jubilee) to celebrate their 75th Anniversary.

This 120cc, 130hp limited edition motorcycle (only 600 numbered units will be produced this year) was revealed in bits and pieces of a puzzle during a special on-line, in-the-dark auction. Now that the entire bike has been revealed Moto Morini will be contacting all 20 bidders asking them to ask them if they want to still confirm their booking coupon. The on-line auction will continue until April 30th for this special edition and everyone else who doesn’t partecipate will have to wait until 2013 to get their hands on it. The same on-line booking procedure will also be used for the Corsaro Veloce, the Granpasso and the Scrambler.

Moto Morini is back in business after being bought for €1.96 million on the auction block last July by two Italian entrepreneurs who created a new company called “Eagle Bike” (based on the Moto Morini logo) and bought the Morini brand name, IP and other assets.

The new company will return on the market this Spring for Moto Morini’s 75th Anniversary and will launching a new model based on the name of one of the best bikes ever produced, the Rebello.

Only 600 numbered units of the Rebello 1200 Jubilee will be produced this year and the bike will be equipped with a 1200 cc engine, 130 hp, and equipped with a complete set of standard components and will be available only through a pre-auction sale.

“A collector’s cult motorcycle, with a perfectly Moto Morini style, in keeping with its tradition and its ability to innovate, features of this great company throughout its history,” says Mr. Sandro Capotosti, Chairman of Moto Morini.

The on-line auction starts today, March 15th, on the www.motomorinimotorcycles.eu website, and limited to Italy, U.K, France, Austria, Germany, Greece, Spain and Benelux and will last thirty days.

Every day, 20 booking coupons with the 20 best bids (no down-limit, but with an up-limit of 13,900 euro, which will be the bike’s retail price, including taxes) will be awarded the booking coupons and in parallel one of the thirty pieces of the puzzle revealing the full picture of the new bike will be disclosed.

For more information, check out the company’s website.

Italian motorcycle brand Moto Morini has finally been sold at auction after months of uncertainty, broken negotiations and concern that the historic marque would close forever. The Moto Morini brand has been bought by two Italian entrepreneurs, Sandro Capotosti and Ruggeromassimo Jannuzzelli, who have paid €1.96 million for the Morini brand name, IP and other assets, but not the actual real estate of the company.

The two entrepreneurs have created a new company called “Eagle Bike” for the occasion but it will be a long time before we see if any production continues, or what exactly will be done with the Morini name. Given that the new Eagle Bike motorcycle company hasn’t bought the former manufacturing premises anything could happen, but at this stage our Italian colleagues at Motoblog.it are prepared to celebrate, with the title “Moto Morini is saved!”

Extracts from the official press release are as follows:

The plan of the purchasing group is to relaunch the prestigious Italian brand Moto Morini, which has more than 80 years of history, and which has created motorbikes that have represented the dreams of entire generations: from useful daily transport in the post-war years, to the legendary competition bikes and the production, competition-derived series models.

In the course of its history, the brand has won worldwide recognition from purists and fans, and with passion and a focus on quality, Eagle Bike is aiming at relaunching the motorcycle production an in innovative way, on both the Italian and international markets.

It’s only when you delve into history like this that you realise what a shame it is that a company like Moto Morini is closing. This photo of the Morini Deltabox (which looks like it’s scanned from a magazine, but we can’t be sure) from Motoblog.it, shows the V-Twin engine which was designed by Italy’s famous motorcycle engineer, Franco Lambertini.

While other Italian motorcycle companies are also credited with the innovation and use of the V-Twin engine, it is generally considered that Lambertini is the father of the design. During his career, he worked at Moto Morini, and when the company was under Cagiva ownership it is said the new owners actually put aside his original drawing for a v-twin.

Lambertini then moved on to Piaggio Group for a while, before going back to Morini and working on projects for Benelli and other development of new Morini models. Curiously, Lambertini has a background in automobiles and first worked for Ferrari which makes quite a list of Italian industrial design in general. See more on Lambertini in an interview with the Morini Club.

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

Administrators now shutting down Moto Morini operations have released the news that a new Moto Morini auction will take place on July 19 as part of measures to sell off the company and its assets. The auction will sell either the company and its premises with prices starting from 4.65 million euros (down from the original asking price of 5.5 million), or just the premises starting at a price of 1.95 million (also down from the original 2.6 million euros).

The sale of just the premises will only take place if administrators fail to see the entire company and its real estate assets together. A company sale would involve the buyer purchasing all real and ‘imaginary’ Moto Morini brand assets, including the Morini Franco Morini brand, all motorcycle designs and projects, know-how, the customer base and general assets. The included real estate purchase would involve all the production facilities, assembly chains, warehouse parts - components, engines, accessories, clothing and packaging - and the office equipment and company vehicles.

The only thing a purchaser wouldn’t buy are the motorcycles themselves which have already been sold off. Administrators are hoping that this second auction, with lower prices, might finally entice someone into buying the company and continue the work of an important company and piece of Italian motorcycle heritage.

Source | Motoblog.it

We love it when the Italians get all patriotic about their motorcycles and let’s face it, there’s a lot to be patriotic about. In this photo from our guys at Motoblog.it, we see the 2011 MMW or Moto Morini Weekend. It featured 30 motorcycles, including 17 Morini’s of the Granpasso, Corsaro, 9 e mezzo (9 and-a-half) and Scrambler varieties. Days like these will unfortunately become vintage meets if nothing can be done for the future of the Moto Morini brand.

Yesterday’s public bankruptcy auction in Bologna to acquire Moto Morini and put it back into business went down another black hole, with no offers being made.

The Italian motorcycle manufacturer first went into voluntary liquidation, with Paolo Berlusconi offering to buy the company out, but that was nixed by the trade unions and then a Canadian consortium seemed interested, but that panned out to nothing, as did the interest of Thomas Bleiner, a green energy entrepeneur.

The company will go back under the hammer this summer, and according to Italy’s newspaper La Republica, there are still three groups (two foreign and one Italian) interested in acquiring the company, but were unable to find the funds necessary to put in a bid in time for the auction.

But this could be the usual move, waiting for bankruptcy administrator to lower the initial bidding in a desperate move to sell off all the remaining assets as soon as possible to pay off all the outstanding debts, so they can take home the iconic marque with a lot less euros to dish out.

Source | motoblog.it

The death of Moto Morini and has reached its final stage. The entire company will be going under the hammer on April 13th.

The auction organized by the court of Bologna inclues the following assets; the Moto Morini marque, drawings, projects, all production and assembly equipment, office equipment, furniture, company cars, components, engines, parts, accessories, clothing, packaging, exempt from the sale will be the finished bikes, both new and used that have been sold during this last year of voluntary liquidation to pay for some of the company’s debts.

The entire plant building located at Casalecchio del Reno is included in the auction, with bidding starting at € 5.500.000,00, but in the event that their are no offers for the entire lot with the property, bids will start € 2,600 .000,00 which will include two years of free use of the buildings.

Hopefully some buyer or consortium will now decide to buy out at these bargain basement prices and decide to put this historic marque back on its feet.

Source | motoblog.it

As everyone know Moto Morini is being shutdown after going into voluntary liquidation, and the court with Piero Aicardi (who is following the shutdown) has informed the media that the factory will be opening up again for a brief time, to assemble 45 motorcycles in order to use the proceeds to pay a part of the Casalecchio di Reno company debts.

Calling in the laid off workers, which are mostly women, they will assemble these 45 motorcycles which will be sold without warranties. These include 16 Scramblers that will go for € 6.360 each and 22 Granpasso’s with prices ranging from € 6.300 to € 7.110.

The company will also be producing seven models called the 2011 Special Edition that will mount yellow frames that were originally intended for the Granferro. The Granferro was seen at the 2009 EICMA show, but never hit the production line as the company went bust. The cost of a Special Edition is € 8.000.

There could still be hope for a Moto Morini future as soon as it goes on the auctioning block in March, as entrepreneur Stephan Franz from an Italo-Canadian group, has already contacted the bankruptcy/liquidation court showing a certain interest and has signed a pre-agreement with the same unions that boycotted Paolo Berlusconi’s Nuova Garelli company as an eventual buyer.

If you’re interested in ordering one of the bikes, hit this link for the order form for more info.

Source | motoblog.it

With the announcement that Moto Morini would stay open until the end of September, the company bought itself some time to see if any other interested purchasers showed their hand. According to reports, entrepreneur Stephan Franz could be interesting in buying the now bankrupt Italian motorcycle manufacturer, as part of an Italo-Canadian group.

In fact, Franz has reportedly put together a new industrial plan which would relaunch Moto Morini. It almost seems too good to be true, but in a veiled statement from the metal workers union, a spokesperson has said: “Negotiations are underway with various possible buyers. With one of these we are close to finding a union agreement by the end of July.”

After the Nuova Garelli debacle, we’ll believe it when there’s a signature on the dotted line, but at least in the meantime there is room for some hope.

Source | Quanteruote via Motoblog.it

Italy’s Moto Morini motorcycle company has agreed to stay open until the end of September in a last-ditch attempt to finalise any expressions of interest in its purchase before it finally closes its doors. The move also gives the company the chance to sell-off the last remaining bikes at bargain prices.

Prices of some Morini models are well down on the official sales list, with the Granpasso, for example, selling at just 6,600 euros. All you have to do is fill out a form and fax it directly to the company and then you’re in touch with them for the rest of the process including payment and registration.

It’s a golden but sad opportunity to get yourself what are wonderful motorcycles. If nothing happens between now and the end of September, and after the failed bid from Nuova Garelli we don’t hold out much hope, we’ll be saying goodbye to these historic Italian twin cylinders. For more details, see the Moto Morini site.

Update: Check out MCN for the inventory order form and more details on the bikes going cheap.

Source | Motoblog.it

Nuova Garelli has walked away from talks over the future of Moto Morini, which now looks like it will shut-down entirely with the only buyer expressing interest apparently offended by the way proceedings developed. A meeting which was scheduled for Monday for interested parties was cancelled and trade union involvement meant that Nuova Garelli still couldn’t reach an agreement particularly with regards to the future of workers.

The historic Italian motorcycle company now looks like it will be left with no future at all, and the trade unions, there to protect workers, have effectively done them out of a job altogether. We can only assume that bankruptcy proceedings will now continue, and Nuova Garelli will walk away feeling like its fingers have been burnt.

In fact, in issuing a statement, Nuova Garelli stated that:

“The meeting of June 14 was cancelled for incomprehensible reasons…. In light of obstacles from the trade unions and the impossibility of reaching an agreement with them, Nuova Garelli feels it must put an end to this affair which could have overtones of a soap opera if it weren’t for seeing bankrupt Moto Morini workers at home and without jobs.”

That would seem like the last word from Nuova Garelli and now we can only sit by and watch Moto Morini close its doors.

Source | Motoblog.it