MV Agusta to Bring Back Cagiva as an Electric Motorcycle Brand

The dormant Italian brand Cagiva is coming back with electric off-road bikes, with the first prototypes expected to come this fall at EICMA. The news was announced by Giovanni Castiglioni, chief executive officer of the Cagiva brand’s rights holder, MV Agusta, during the press launch for the 2018 Brutale 800RR (look for that review shortly).

Cagiva (whose name is a portmonteau derived from the name of its founder, Castiglioni’s grandfather, also named Giovanni) first entered the motorcycle business in 1978, and made a name for itself in both Grand Prix road racing and off-road racing in motocross and notably winning the Dakar Rally in 1990 and 1994 with the Cagiva Elefant (pictured above).

In 1985, Cagiva bought Ducati, and produced motorcycles under the better known Duc name. In the years following, Cagiva continued to expand, acquiring the rights to Moto Morini, Husqvarna, and in 1991, MV Agusta. After Cagiva sold Ducati to the Texas Pacific Group in 1996, the company was restructured with MV Agusta becoming the primary brand.

Cagiva has been quiet ever since, but the name is poised for a comeback, returning an electric brand with a focus on off-road bikes. Castiglioni did not provide much detail about the powertrain and technology, but the new Cagivas are expected to be lightweight electric off-road bikes similar to Alta’s e-bikes, or even electric-assist mountain bikes like the ones currently produced by the also resurrected Bultaco brand.

MV Agusta still owns active trademarks in various markets for several Cagiva model names, such as Mito, Elephant and SST. It’s likely the new Cagiva models will resurrect at least one of these names.

We expect details to emerge in the months to come, ahead of the 2018 EICMA show in Milan in November. Check back here at Motorcycle.com for more information as it becomes available.