Benelli was established in Pesaro, Italy, in 1911

Teresa Benelli, a widow, sank all of the family capital into the business, in the hope that it would offer stable work for her six sons: Giuseppe, Giovanni, Francesco, Filippo, Domenico and Antonio or "Tonino".

In the beginning, it was just the "Benelli Garage" which only repaired cars and motorcycles, but was already able to produce all of the spare parts needed for repairs.

In 1920 the company built its first complete engine in-house, a single-cylinder two-stroke 75 cc model, immediately adapted to a bicycle frame.

A year later in 1921, Benelli built its first motorcycle with its OWN engine which had by then become a 98 cc model.

Two years after that, using a version specially designed for competitions, Tonino the "terrible" took to the track. He displayed an extraordinary natural talent as a rider and embarked on a very successful career which confirmed the company's exceptional capacity for development and production.

Riding a Benelli 175, Tonino Benelli won 4 Italian championship titles almost consecutively, in 1927, 1928 and 1930 with the single overhead camshaft version, and in 1931 with the double overhead camshaft version.

Unfortunately, a bad crash during a race in 1932 cut short his brilliant career and on 27 September 1937 Tonino died following a "silly" road accident.

In 1962, Benelli and Motobi (established by Giuseppe Benelli in 1949 after disagreements with his brothers, but later attached to the parent company when the family problems were resolved) produced around 300 motorcycles per day and had 550 employees.

If the Tornado brought an air of technical and aesthetic innovation to the motorcycle industry, we can certainly say that the TNT will hit it like a bomb.





The glorious Benelli name in the world of competition.

Tonino Benelli was the undisputed protagonist of the early racing successes.

With an extraordinary natural talent for riding, he began a rewarding career that confirmed his exceptional technical skill and innovation within the company.

In the saddle of a Benelli 175, Tonino won the title of Italian Champion in 1927/1928/1930 riding the single shaft version and in 1931 with the dual shaft version.

The numerous victories in the European World Championship were a prelude to one of the most sought after successes of all motorcycle producers: The Tourist Trophy, at that time the most important race in the world.

In 1939, Ted Mellors was victorious, racing in the saddle of the Benelli 250.

In 1950 Dario Ambrosini also won the Tourist Trophy, repeating Mellors’ success and consecrating his title by winning both the Italian and the World Championships.

In the 1960s two extraordinary riders competed in the races: Tarquinio Provini who won the Italian Championship with the 250 in 1965 and Renzo Pasolini who won the Championship with the 250 as well as the 350 in 1968 and 1969.

In 1969, the enormous effort invested in competition was rewarded with the 250 world title thanks to Kel Carruthers, who also again won the Tourist Trophy in the same year.

Many of the most famous riders in the history of motorcycling raced with Benelli bikes, from Mike Hailwood to Jarno Saarinen, and the last victory in 1990 was the merit of Antonio Rossi.

In 2001, to accelerate the development time for the Tornado, Benelli once again took to the track competing in World Superbikes.




Benelli Q.J. Is now part of the Qianjiang group.

Winner of the motorcycle industry award in the 2003 China exporter of the year competition.

Qianjiang is a corporation located in southeast China at Wenling, 480km from Shangai, whose 14.000-plus workforce produces more than 1.200.000 powered two-wheelers each year, as well as in excess of two millions engines, in an ultra modern city-sized factory occupying 670.000sq.m of covered space and equipped with sophisticated machine tools imported from Germany, Italy and U.S.

In addition to its main motorcycle and scooter products, the company, wich is capitalised at over $750 million, and has been listed on the chinese stock exchange since 1999, also manufacturers ATV’s, electric bikes, lawnmowers, golf carts, generators, pumps and various garden products.

Around 20% of its total production is exported abroad, including the USA and Europe. It also evidently focuses on quality, having received the coveted internationally-recognised ISO 9001 certificate as long ago as 1997.




The engines are assembled directly in our factory.

Thanks to modern and equipped production lines, our models can be produced at a speed of 14 bikes a day ready for shipment.

A new production line has been completely dedicated to the accurate assembling of the engine in order to ensure top quality and reliability.

Benelli Q.J. is located in Pesaro where the previous propriety based the facilities, keeping the whole workforce previously working at Benelli S.P.A.