Ducati 1198
I saw this over at Autoblog and thought it worthy of posting- especially in light of the Harley Davidson/Buell divorce/death. It has been a crazy day for the motorcycle industry, for sure.
As recently as last year, Piëch – himself a Ducati rider even at age 72 – commented that Volkswagen could still purchase an unnamed motorcycle manufacturer if the conditions were right. Strike up the rumormill again, boys and girls. The Italian motoring press is reportedly signaling that Volkswagen is making renewed overtures toward Ducati, which, like pretty much all other motorcycle manufacturers these days, is seeing sales and profits take a dive due to the sorry state of the global economy.
At any rate, could any good come from Volkswagen buying Ducati? I think not. Car makers and motorcycle manufacturers market to different customer bases. Especially when you consider that Volkswagen is a high volume mainstream car company and Ducati is a low volume high end motorcycle company. Bad things usually happen when a large company buys a small niche company just for the prestige of owning it. Bad, bad things- like someone eventually goes out of business. So, let’s hope sanity prevails. Volkswagen has no real use for Ducati and Ducati certainly has more to lose than to gain.
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