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An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer
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So you were saying earlier that Montesa finished road racing in about 1968. What was the reason for this ?
It was because the market for road bikes was falling, this was not just in Spain. It was at this time that the Japanese started to introduce their bikes to Europe and the United States and many people bought these bikes instead of Montesa, so it's fair to say that we had a fairly niche market in the mountains motorcycles so we decided to dedicate all our efforts to the mountain motorcycles and make entirely off-road bikes.
It was because the market for road bikes was falling, this was not just in Spain. It was at this time that the Japanese started to introduce their bikes to Europe and the United States and many people bought these bikes instead of Montesa, so it's fair to say that we had a fairly niche market in the mountains motorcycles so we decided to dedicate all our efforts to the mountain motorcycles and make entirely off-road bikes.
An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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What were the best years for Montesa, the times when Montesa had the largest production ?
In terms of units, 1977 and 1978 were the best years. We achieved sold units in the region of 30,000 units of these years including mopeds and unfortunately it is quite common for some companies to have a lot of turnover but profits remains very minimal.
Was Montesa making good money at this time ?
We were making money, but not big amounts of money, not as much as you might think.
In terms of units, 1977 and 1978 were the best years. We achieved sold units in the region of 30,000 units of these years including mopeds and unfortunately it is quite common for some companies to have a lot of turnover but profits remains very minimal.
Was Montesa making good money at this time ?
We were making money, but not big amounts of money, not as much as you might think.
An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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How many workers did you have at the busiest time ?
We had 600 at the most, this is a total amount of all the factories.
We had 600 at the most, this is a total amount of all the factories.
An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com
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If you were approaching the recession and crisis of the mid 80’s again , would you do anything differently ?
Well maybe the big mistake of Montesa, in fact not just Montesa, but of all the factories in Spain, is that they have very integrated production factories. What I mean by this is that these motorcycle factory’s produced everything. As I told you we had 600 people working for the company and all of these workers were protected by special conditions and there was no flexibility for the company to be able to adjust the number of people that were involved in this production, this was a condition of the government and there was no flexible possibility. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if this time we could have made a decision to make a different type of production system, concentrating on design but using suppliers and their workforce so that we would have not had the risk of running with such a large workforce.
Well maybe the big mistake of Montesa, in fact not just Montesa, but of all the factories in Spain, is that they have very integrated production factories. What I mean by this is that these motorcycle factory’s produced everything. As I told you we had 600 people working for the company and all of these workers were protected by special conditions and there was no flexibility for the company to be able to adjust the number of people that were involved in this production, this was a condition of the government and there was no flexible possibility. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if this time we could have made a decision to make a different type of production system, concentrating on design but using suppliers and their workforce so that we would have not had the risk of running with such a large workforce.
Xavier Permanyer states "The United States plunged us all . They asked 500 motorcycles, 2,000 motorcycles ... and then not wanted." Xavier also states that all of the flailing Spanish motorcycle companies failed to embrace the motorcycle tourism industry that was doing very well.Montesa considered this market but there was was not the money available to invest in new engines.
This was the Montesa management structure just prior to Jordi Permanyer's appearance
An exclusive interview with Montesa's Jordi Permanyer www.retrotrials.com