Moto Guzzi Updates Stornello Trademark

Moto Guzzi has applied for new trademark rights over the Stornello name in the USA after its previous trademark expired last year, hinting that the company has plans to revive the title on a new model in the not-too-distant future.

While many companies will hold onto rights over long-dead model names just in case they feel the need to revive them, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has stricter “use it or lose it” requirements than many other countries, making the new application a stronger hint that the title will reappear on a production bike soon. The last set of US trademark rights that Moto Guzzi’s parent company, Piaggio, held over the Stornello name were applied for back in November 2015—around the same time that the limited-edition 2016 Moto Guzzi V7 Stornello model was launched—and expired in November 2023.

The last, V7-based Stornello model was a tribute to the 1965 to ‘68 Guzzi Stornello 125 Scrambler America, which inspired its red-and-white paintwork and high-level exhaust pipe, but the Stornello name dates back further than that, to dawn of the 1960s when it was introduced on a road-oriented 125cc single. Today, Guzzi has several options when it comes to reviving the name.

One possibility is that the next Stornello will take its cue from the last one. The V7 is still in Moto Guzzi’s range, albeit much improved over the last decade, so a new V7-based Stornello scrambler would be relatively easy to engineer. Alternatively, the V85 TT—which wasn’t part of the Guzzi range back in 2015 when the last Stornello was launched—already has some off-road ability and could easily be reworked into a more retro-style machine with an eye toward competing against Triumph’s Scrambler 900.

Another possibility is that Moto Guzzi will look not to the Stornello Scrambler of the 1960s but the earlier, street-oriented machine for inspiration. The name Stornello actually translates as “Starling” and was originally intended to reflect the fact that the bike bearing it was a small-capacity, lightweight model. At the start of this year Piaggio’s test riders were spotted on a small, unfaired parallel-twin prototype using the parallel-twin engine from the Aprilia RS 457 but wrapped in a chassis and styling that looked very much like it was part of the Moto Guzzi stable. A small, entry-level Moto Guzzi was precisely what the original Stornello was, so if Guzzi goes ahead with a new 450 it might be an apt title for that machine.