Suspension maker Marzocchi savedItalian suspension specialist Marzocchi has been saved from liquidation.
American owner Tenneco (the $8.4 bn turnover owner of Monroe shocks and other automotive interests) had been intending to close the business, but Italian automotive engineer VRM S.p.A., also based near Bologna, has acquired the business for an undisclosed sum in a deal brokered by local government and trade union officials.
VRM is a precision engineering company with chassis component contracts with the likes of BMW, Ducati and MV Agusta among others. The deal does not include Marzocchi's bicycle/MTB suspension programmes - those assets were sold to Fox in October 2015. The deal will save some 70 remaining jobs, and reports suggest that production of some of the product lines that Marzocchi produced for major motorcycle OEs will recommence quickly.
Founded in 1949, Marzocchi's core market for motorcycle suspensions has always been OE contracts, but the brand has always been a popular choice with aftermarket customisers and builders looking for beefed-up and performance-capable suspensions. There is no word yet as to whether VRM will sell to the aftermarket.
Tenneco acquired Marzocchi in 2008, just as the bottom started to fall out of Marzocchi's market. It is believed that the changes taking place in the suspension industry, with the spread of electronically controlled and adjusted and semi-active electronic suspension systems rapidly becoming a de facto standard requirement for OE product, meant that the huge investment that would have been required to allow Marzocchi to compete became untenable for the American parent company. It is believed that Tenneco was facing a bill of close to $30m for closure of Marzocchi.
