Malaguti Motorcycles

Malaguti is an Italian manufacturer founded in 1930 by Antonio Malaguti in San Lazzaro di Savena, near Bologna. It began as a bicycle maker and moved into motorcycles in 1958, building a reputation on small-displacement engines. Its 50cc Saigon scooter became a surprise hit during the Vietnam War, and through the 1980s Malaguti weathered the collapse of many rival Italian moped makers, emerging in the 1990s as Italy's third-largest scooter brand behind Piaggio and Aprilia. The company ceased operations in 2011 after decades of independent production. In 2018 the Malaguti name was acquired by Austria's KSR Group, which has since used it to revive scooter and moped models under the historic badge. Malaguti's story is largely one of small-capacity Italian scooters built for affordable urban mobility rather than performance, and the brand today exists as a revived name rather than a continuously operating manufacturer.