Benelli Motorcycles

Benelli was founded in 1911 in Pesaro, Italy, when widow Teresa Benelli opened a small engineering workshop to provide employment for her six sons, who would go on to run the business. It is the second-oldest Italian motorcycle manufacturer still in operation. One of the brothers, Tonino Benelli, became a successful racer, and the marque built a strong competition record through the mid-20th century. In 2005, Benelli was acquired by China's Qianjiang Group, which retained Benelli's design and engineering base in Pesaro while shifting production to China, giving the century-old Italian name access to large-scale manufacturing. Benelli today builds a broad range of street, adventure, and cruiser motorcycles, with its Italian heritage and design language remaining central to how the brand positions itself internationally, even as the business has become part of a much larger Chinese motorcycle group.