Ducati at the Crossroads
What does the future hold for Ducati? Comment and analysis by Alastair.
2005 has been an eventful one for Ducati and disappointing in many ways - not least in selling motorcycles, never mind losing the WSB title.
The recent announcement by the Italian bike maker that InvestIndustrial Holdings are keen to buy out the 33% Texas Pacific Group stake, seems like progress - but is it?
Anyone can see that the Italian motorcycle/scooter industry is in decline, with their volume scooter production likely to be swallowed up, or largely priced out of business by cheaper Chinese competition in a matter of a decade, or less.
Now factor in the costs of manufacturing, or at least assembling, low volume, high priced motorcycles within the EU, especially Italy. Although any company can source wheels, engine parts, transmission components etc from the Far East, it costs huge sums in wages, pension liabilities, sick pay, compensation claims etc to produce motorcycles in Italy, rather than say Slovakia, the Ukraine, or mainland China.
Ducati isn’t alone in facing these basic problems, Harley, BMW, Triumph, KTM, Aprilia/Guzzi and more all have more costs than Qianjing, Zonshen or Kymco. So too do the Japanese big four.
But Ducati has a fundamental product problem, which ten years of success hasn’t altered; it is still producing a fairly narrow range of V-twin engined bikes.
Where is the road going V4 GP replica bike? Why is there no Supermoto/enduro/commuter Ducati single cylinder bike, to replace the aged Monster? Why not have a big, soft, V-twin Ducati cruiser for the US and German markets?
Fact is, a Ducati 1000cc cruiser concept might have been more use in drumming up investment at Milan, than the niche market, expensive to build Hypermotard…even if it didn’t wow the local crowds.
Moreover, whoever buys out TPG’s stake in Ducati would find themselves lumbered with competing in several road racing series - to what end exactly?
The harsh truth is that racing doesn’t always sell bikes. Did people buy 916s because Foggy won on a handbuilt lookalike, or perhaps because the 916 offered a refreshing change to garish, and samey looking four cylinder Superbikes of the mid 1990s? Racing is like advertising - 50% of the time it never works at selling your product, but you don’t know which 50%…
THE FUTURE HAS TO BE DESIGNED
Unless Ducati drastically reduces its racing operations, diversifies its model range and comes up a flagship sportbike that is more beautiful than anything else around, then switching private equity funding around in the banking system won’t make a euro of difference in the long run.
Once, a Ducati looked special, truly unique, even if the bike did prove as reliable as an Austin Maxi. Now they stay together well enough, but where’s the beauty in a Multistrada, or the modernism in an ST3?
Ducati needs innovation, urgently, or it will become a marginal player in the global motorcycle market - a V-Twin owners fan club.
That will be a great loss to motorcycling - Ducati should stand for boldness of design, purity in terms of performance and a unique, easily identifiable sense of style.
(this article was taken from insidebikes.com)