MV Agusta, the flashiest of all Euro motorcycle brands, has done the same thing as every other luxury bike manufacturer, and inked a deal to build bikes in Asia.

Specifically, the deal will see MV Agusta cooperating with Chinese manufacturer Loncin. Right now, Loncin makes small-capacity bikes, mostly in the 125-300 cc range; it’s not one of the Chinese manufacturers specializing in larger motorcycles.

The new bikes built for MV Agusta will be larger, but not that much bigger. Supposedly, Loncin will make four motorcycles for MV Agusta, in the 300-500 cc range. As part of the deal, MV Agusta will in turn help Loncin develop its own lineup of larger motorcycles, a series of 800 cc machines for a new marque. This new brand, VOGE, is intended to become China’s premiere motorcycle manufacturer.

The motorcycles resulting from the MV Agusta-Loncin team-up are supposed to be on the market in 2021. That probably means you can expect renderings to appear in the coming months, and prototypes will likely appear on the 2020 show circuit.

Note that those motorcycles are apparently intended to be sold around the world. Harley-Davidson’s recent deal with Chinese manufacturer Qianjang is intended to build motorcycles for developing markets, but it seems MV Agusta wants to sell its machines in already-established markets.

It’s a big change for MV Agusta, which has long been known for building flashy, high-performance streetbikes with big names like Lewis Hamilton endorsing them. But other Euro manufacturers like KTM, BMW and Ducati have had Asian partnerships for years, and MV Agusta no doubt feels it’s time to get this figured out. And, with financial oversight coming as a result of the big money problems the company’s had in the past few years, a deal like this was probably inevitable.

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