If you admired the magnificent machine piloted to two podium finishes at last week’s Santos Tour Down Under by Alessandro Petacchi, you’re far from alone.
Wilier-Triestina has just announced record sales figures, and has placed the Zero 7 ridden by Petacchi and his Lampre-ISD colleagues in the vanguard of its bid for further growth in 2012.
With a claimed frame weight of less than 800 grams, making it the lightest in the company’s 106 year history, the team edition Zero 7 is the highly desirable product of Wilier’s continuing relationship with the WorldTour team.
In a statement released to celebrate a 22 per cent increase in its sales for 2011, Andrea Gastaldello, said input from Petacchi, and team mates, Damiano Cunego, winner of the 2004 Giro d’Italia, and the runner-up in last year’s Giro, Michele Scarponi, has allowed the company to bring “champion-worthy materials and geometries” to the “everyday cyclist”.
“Our partnership with a top-level team like Lampre ISD gives us great visibility in the world and allows us to showcase our brand in markets where professional cycling is not widespread. Furthermore, we have been able to acquire market share because we offer high quality products with Italian style and competitive prices,” said Gastaldello.
“We are more than mere sponsors to Lampre ISD; we are committed to the development of new Italian cycling talent in addition to supporting the champions of today. Cunego and Scarponi will be riding the Zero.7 equipped with the new Campagnolo EPS electronic group. It will represent the validation the Zero.7, which in the few months since its introduction, is revolutionizing the market,” he said.
Gastaldello also talked up Wilier’s £9,500 Twin Foil time trial machine, which was placed before British audiences for the first time at the London Bike Show earlier this month.
The UCI-compliant super bike includes a raft of wind cheating innovations, including fork legs that pass either side of the head tube, and super wide spacings between the rear wheel and the seat stays.
“This year we are very excited about the Twin Foil, our top of the line TT and Tri frame. Soon we are releasing a video on our web site that will show the tremendous amount of research behind this product,” said Gastaldello.
Wilier-Triestina recorded sales to the value of 35 million Euro in 2011, an 18 per cent increase on 2010. Some 28,190 Wilier-Triestina bikes were delivered last year, and increase of more than 5,000 on 2010.
The Italian brand saw its sales increase by the largest margin in its home territory, making customers of 6,000 Italians in 2011, a 35 per cent increase on the 4,431 of Wilier’s countrymen who bought from the brand in 2010.
Sales outside Italy increased by nearly 20 per cent to 22,205 bikes, where demand in Wilier’s Singapore-Malaysia-Vietnam market grew by 406 per cent. Sales in Russia increased by 232 per cent, and by 225 per cent in Brazil.
Growth in Wilier’s more established markets was more modest, but still impressive, with sales up by 50 per cent in Germany, 47 per cent in the Benelux countries, 37 per cent in Spain, 35 per cent in France, and 24 per cent in Austria.
