Moto Morini Motorcycles

Moto Morini was founded in Bologna in 1937 by Alfonso Morini, who had previously built motorcycles with Mario Mazzetti under the MM name. The factory was destroyed during the Second World War, and the first postwar Moto Morini did not appear until 1946. The brand built a reputation for distinctive V-twin engines through the postwar decades before passing through a long chain of ownership changes: Cagiva took control in 1987, Texas Pacific Group (which also owned Ducati at the time) acquired it in 1996, and the naming rights were bought separately in 1999 by Morini Franco Motori, a company founded by Alfonso Morini's own nephew. The brand went into liquidation in 2010, was bought out of it by the Eagle Bike company in 2011, and changed hands again in 2018 when ownership passed to China's Zhongneng Vehicle Group, which continues to produce Moto Morini-badged motorcycles today.