Ducati’s CEO Claudio Domenicali has enjoyed a good full first year at the helm of the Bologna-based OEM. So we sat down with the longtime Ducati man to talk about all-things Ducati in our two-part interview.
Last week’s part one delved into the business of Ducati and its recent Scrambler venture. This week Domenicali talks about getting the race program back on track and his vision of making Ducati the most aspirational brand in the business.
If you missed part one, you can read it here: http://tinyurl.com/qdujflz
You’ve already explained that Ducati doesn’t plan to go after volume in terms of units by producing lower capacity, lower cost products, especially off shore. But your first job at Ducati was designing a chassis for the Supermono racebike, the most sophisticated single-cylinder motorcycle yet sold by a major manufacturer, albeit in very small numbers. Would a modern Supermono streetbike not be an appealing product?
We looked several times at doing this, but I personally do not think that there is a proper space in the market for a single-cylinder high-performance high-technology sportbike carrying the Ducati name. There are other motorcycle companies who make a good business of selling single-cylinder motorcycles, but that’s not in our philosophy. It would be like Porsche making a three-cylinder sports car!
Okay, but how about a Ducati maxi-scooter? If you’re going to have a Scrambler in your garage and a 1299 Panigale alongside it, and maybe a Multistrada for going on vacation or weekend trips, wouldn’t many ducatisti want to have a Ducati scooter to go to work on?
Okay, let’s just make it clear that we do not have a scooter in our current planning, and we are not presently working on one. But if the question is instead would it be unthinkable for Ducati to build a scooter, the answer is that we could certainly consider how to interpret such a vehicle within the context of the Ducati brand. Provided such a product respected the company’s core values in terms of performance, style and sophistication, and we could apply the Ducati DNA to it…
It’s not impossible that one day we may consider developing such a model, provided it’s a light, sporty and sophisticated product. We just need to have a business case made out to do so, which has not yet happened. So, no Ducati scooter right now—but never say never!
How about a Ducati electric bike?
That’s the same, I think.
You have a couple of Zero Motorcycle models here, so surely your engineers have been testing them?
We’ve been testing many products from other manufacturers just to keep aware of what’s in the marketplace. But while I do think that riding electric motorcycles can be a very entertaining experience quite apart from any supposed environmental benefits, I personally consider that the internal combustion engine will still have a very long life into the future. But let’s see what happens.
So should I take that as a yes—that Ducati is taking a look at electric bikes?
I think there is no automotive company that is not taking a look at electric right now. It would be kind of stupid not to.
To read more of part two of our interview with Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali in Cycle News, click here