Whatever Happened To: Pierre Terblanche?

Whatever happened to...
It's been over a year since Pierre Terblanche parted company with Ducati, after more than a decade as the Bologna bike builder's design director. Following a short stint at Volkswagen in Germany, the South African began his motorcycle design career at the Cagiva Research Center (CRC) in San Marino, working as understudy to the legendary Massimo Tamburini. When Cagiva offloaded Ducati to the Texas Pacific Group in 1996, Terblanche went along as design director. He'll be remembered for creating the instantly iconic Supermono, Hypermotard and SportClassics, but also for more contentious creations such as the Multistrada and 999 Superbike. Terblanche left his post in Borgo Panigale during the last days of 2007 to launch his own independent design studio. He wanted to create more and manage less, and explore other design challenges-perhaps boats, he said at the time. We don't know if his nautical aspirations were ever satisfied, but we have learned that he is currently consulting with Moto Guzzi. Is it possible that Terblanche could take over styling responsibility for the struggling Italian icon? No official announcement had been made at press time, but he is reportedly "very excited" about the work. If parent company Piaggio could just tie down Terblanche, then reassign Luigi Dall'Igna (Aprilia's engineer responsible for the RSV4 Superbike) to update Guzzi's ancient, air-cooled V-twins, we'd have some new Guzzis to get excited about.