Guzzi relaunches in Mandello del Lario: the new production site is up and running
Piaggio is investing 50 million; production capacity has increased to 30,000 units a year. Michele Colaninno: “A significant challenge for one of the world’s most iconic brands”
The red front door on Via Parodi is still there, just as it has been since 1921. Yet this sense of continuity comes to an end the moment you step through the doorway, following an investment of 50 million and more than five years of work.
This commitment has enabled a complete overhaul of Moto Guzzi’s production facility in Mandello del Lario, a project designed by the American architect Greg Lynn which represents a leap into the future for the historic brand owned by the Piaggio Group.
“It is with great pride and a touch of madness,” explains the group’s CEO, Michele Colaninno, “that we are ushering in a new era for Moto Guzzi. The project involved a complete transformation of the factory and the area dedicated to the museum exhibition. It was no small challenge, but one we have successfully completed by pulling together as a team. Moto Guzzi is one of the world’s most beloved and iconic motorbike brands: anyone who rides a Moto Guzzi is riding through over a century of Italian history, with all the memories we hold and all our hopes for the future.”
The future is clearly evident in the new production lines, with ground-based drones – designed by the Piaggio Group itself – collecting the motorbikes at the end of the line and taking them through to final testing.
Following the expansion works, which have increased the iconic two-wheeler factory’s total floor area to almost 40,000 square metres, production capacity has almost doubled to over 30,000 vehicles a year, thanks to assembly lines that make extensive use of state-of-the-art automation to churn out the eagle-badged brand’s models – cult items for which enthusiasts are willing to spend as much as 15,000 euros.
