Ducati had a good 2017. The Italian motorcycle manufacturer continued eight years of growth to end up delivering 55,871 motorcycles last year. And that meant that the turnover of Ducati Motor Holding reached € 736 million, with a profit of € 51 million (around £45 million depending on the exchange rate). Which is good news for Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali and the 1,570 employees of the company. And should also please the bosses at Audi, who own Ducati via their Lamborghini subsidiary.
Shipping 55,871 Ducati motorcycles to customers in 2017 was a growth of 0.8% for the Italian firm, which doesn’t sound like much. But when the worldwide demand for motorbikes over 500cc actually went down 3.5%, and Ducati doesn’t offer a particularly massive range of small capacity bikes, it’s impressive. It’s the eighth year of growth, and sales have increased by almost 30% over the last five years.
In Italy, 2017 sales were up 12% with 8,806 motorcycles delivered. Spain was up 28.3% and Europe was up to 31,123 motorcycles overall, with 4% growth. Even in the UK, Ducati increased registrations.
In the USA, deliveries were up to 8,898 motorcycles, up 1.3%. Argentina was up a massive 66%. And in Asia, Ducati shipped 5,805 bikes, with a 31% increase in China which also saw the Ducati dealership network double from 9 location to 18.
“The quality of the results underlines Ducati’s strong profitability and financial resilience”, said André Stoffels, CFO of Ducati Motor Holding. “Even with significantly higher investment in product innovation, the global expansion of the Ducati sales network, digitalization of both our products and our core processes and, last but not least, our huge commitment to racing, we’ve still achieved an operating margin of 7%.”
Ducati Bike Model Sales in 2017:
In terms of the actual Ducati bike models, the Multistrada is the top seller. It was joined by the new 2017 Ducati Multistrara 950 which was particularly popular. The Ducati Scrambler range was the second biggest success, selling 14,061 bikes including the new Desert Sled and Cafe Racer.
And the third Ducati family range was the evergreen Monster selection. But there were also individual successes, including with the SuperSport, and the 80,000 Euro Ducati 1299 Superleggera, which sold out of the 500 limited edition models before they were even built.
“In 2017 we laid the foundations for further, future development of the company. We launched seven new models on the market. Furthermore, we presented the Panigale V4, the first Ducati factory bike to mount a 4-cylinder engine, the outcome of the biggest investment Ducati has ever channelled into a single product. 2017 also saw further development of the Scrambler range. At EICMA the Scrambler brand presented the first completely new bike since its founding: the Scrambler 1100, which adds an all-new dimension to the Ducati Scrambler world by injecting big-bike technology, performance and ultra-high quality finishing,” commented Claudio Domenicali.
So it’s celebrations all round for the 1,570 Ducati employees, and the sales network of 780 dealerships in more than 90 countries around the world. Combine that with challenging for the title in MotoGP, and it seems like the Italian firm is thriving under Audi ownership.
Audi AG acquired the company in July 2012. Previous owners including the Cagiva Group, Texas-Pacific Group and Investindustrial Holdings. It was originally owned by the Ducati family for just 24 years from 1926 to 1950. But with just 8 years to go before the 100th anniversary of the founding of the company to produce radio components, we can probably expect an increasing number of special edition Ducati motorcycles (The first Ducati Cucciolo only appeared in 1950).
Are you surprised by the continued growth of Ducati? Or are you currently planning to invest in a new Italian motorcycle in 2018? Let us know in the comments, and if you happen to be lucky enough to own a rare Ducati special edition, get in touch privately as we’d love to feature your bike on the site.
Leave a Reply