Benelli Fighting WP in Italian Court

I recently received a bit of news that seemed to come like a bolt of lightning straight out of the blue sky: a sentence by the Court of Pesaro, Italy, declared that Benelli motorcycles was insolvent, the first step into bankruptcy. I had to dig into it and double check to believe it for myself.

Today, Benelli is a relatively small outfit with the primary task of acting as a mega R&D department for parent company Qjian Jiang, the prestigious Chinese motorcycle company that acquired Benelli in 2005.

Qjian Jiang is a huge and financially strong company. Just considering this factor the whole case appears inconsistent. The case is based around a batch of telescopic forks that WP, the plaintiff, affirms were delivered to Benelli, the defendant, with a claimed value of 120,000 Euros. Benelli denies ever having taken delivery of that batch of forks. It follows that Benelli and Qjian Jiang immediately appealed the sentence. This is going to be a long case, in the best tradition of the lazy Italian judiciary system.

Everybody at Benelli is shocked, they never expected a sentence so drastically negative and punitive. This is not another case of an Italian motorcycle marque going sour, like other historical names are on the verge of. Being part of the mighty Qjian Jiang Group is a positive safeguard, but it will take time to solve this controversial case. No official statement came from Benelli Q.J. and from CEO Miss Yan Haimei, a.k.a. Klara at Benelli, but she’s proved tough and very capable, she will find the solution to keep Benelli Q.J. alive and productive.