Well, it’s finally happened; the Lucky Explorer 5.5 that certain members of MV Agusta were so excited to debut has been shelved in favor of getting the larger-displacement 9.5s out of the laboratory and into our moto markets sooner.
“The project is still frozen, and we’re evaluating the market conditions for this bike within the KTM sales network,” comments MV Agusta CEO Timur Sardarov to MCN.
The bigger question, of course, lies in the little comment made by Hubert Trunkenpolz – CSO/Member-Mgmt Board at KTM AG – back in May of this year:
“The Lucky Explorer, an objectively out-of-target motorcycle, produced abroad and harmful to the brand itself, is an example of what MV Agusta does not have to do.”
– Hubert Trunkenpolz, CSO/Member-Mgmt Board, KTM
Is MV Agusta pulling back on a wider range of ADV bikes because Pierer now owns a larger stake in the Italian bike brand and they’re trying not to blend MV ADV bikes with KTM ADV bikes?
According to Sardarov, no; in fact, neither KTM AG nor Pierer titles have been discussing anything of the kind.
“Nothing specific has been discussed, and nobody raised this topic. The main principle is for MV Agusta to stay independent from design language and the engineering of KTM Group of products [and] companies.”
“MV Agusta is not going to be part of the cross-platform and cross-branded platform style that KTM is known for.”
– Timur Sardarov, CEO, MV Agusta
As for the budding Lucky Explorer 9.5, we’re told around 500 special editions will be created before the big production belt starts up – and we could be seeing the thing in as few as three weeks from now.
“The 9.5 production starts next month, and it goes on sale from October as a model year 2024 bike,” finishes Agusta’s CEO.
What do you think of the Lucky Explorer 5.5? Do you think MV Agusta’s better off keeping the bike from our markets?