MV Agusta has filed a patent for the 'Elefant' name, to possibly revive its legendary Paris-Dakar-winning bike

In mid-2019, Loncin Motor Co. Ltd., and MV Agusta entered into a long term strategic partnership that would mutually benefit both companies and their future projects. With fresh resources pumping in, is MV Agusta setting its crosshairs on the BMW R1250 GS?

For now, MV Agusta's actions are hinting that they may begin developing a new and “legit” adventure bike that could go head to head with the GS and the Africa Twin, as they recently filed for a trademark in Europe for the name “Elefant”.

For those who are not familiar, 30 years ago, when Cagiva still owned MV Agusta, they used to race in the Paris-Dakar Rally with their very capable Elefant adventure bike. That bike, ridden by Edi Orioli, won the Paris-Dakar race in 1990 and 1994. The Elefant was powered by L-twin engines from Ducati in 750 cc and 900 cc configurations, which was also owned by the Cagiva group at that time.

While MV Agusta already has the Turismo Veloce, some fans and critics never really considered it as an adventure bike. In fact, the people from MV Agusta never claimed it was and advertised it as a tourer rather than an adventure bike. This new development signals the possible rebirth of an iconic adventure bike from MV Agusta in the near future. With Loncin's backing, are they developing a new Italian engine to power the new Elefant or will they use an engine sourced from Loncin? After all, Bristol's Venturi 500 and Motorstar's Voge 500DS have engines that are strikingly familiar. Could they be developing one with a 1000cc or more displacement?

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