Ducati News Today

The Italian and Spanish motorcycle press seem to share at least one thing in common, a philosophy on news that says never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Ducati is the favorite company to proclaim news about. This time it is a supposed merger of Ducati and Piaggio. I suppose it would allow the company to cover both World Superbike Championship bases: Ducati for twins and Aprilia for V4s!

Italian newspaper LaStampa has revealed a merger proposal supposedly penned by management consultants McKinsey. Piaggio is a motorcycling conglomerate which owns brands such as Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, Vespa and Gilera.

Piaggio closed 2009 with a 30.2% share in their home Italian market (up 1.7% percent over 2008) and has reported excellent performance in over 50cc scooters: 33.6% market share in 2009 (+2.1% higher than in 2008) with 5 product families in the top ten bestsellers.

link: Ultimate Motorcycling

Ducati remains a small manufacturer but has appeared to weather the financial crisis and the consequent collapse of the global motorcycle market well. 2009 sales of Ducati motorcycles were 18% down compared with 30% for the market.

Corporations initiate strategic reviews from time to time to examine their options and Ducati News Today believes it is likely that this is what the McKinsey document represents. Last year it was rumored that Volkswagen was interested in Ducati.

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