Ducati’s new No. 1 market is the U.S.
Ducati Motor Holding president Gabriele Del Torchio announced on Monday that the United States has become the No. 1 market for Ducati motorcycles. Del Torchio made the announcement during the Ducati North America dealer meeting at the Gansevoort Hotel in Miami Beach.
“We sell more bikes here in the United States now than we do in our domestic market. Only 20 percent of our bikes are sold in Italy, and 80 percent are exported,” he said.
The Italian OEM has seen its worldwide market share nearly double over the past four years, from 4.8 percent to 10.6 percent, he said. Ducati also posted record revenues of $650 million, making “2011 the best ever,” Del Torchio said.
“It’s been a quite positive year for us,” Del Torchio told Powersports Business. “Our registrations through the end of August went up by 18.6 percent despite the fact that the worldwide market was down 4.3 percent. I truly believe that by the end of the year, we will reach 42,000 units, which would be a record in our history for highest volume, even better than our previous best year in 2008.”
Ducati dealers were introduced to a host of 2012 models, along with several dealer programs that are aimed to increase product availability, enhance the customer experience and drive revenue.
A new Ducati assembly plant opened in Thailand last week, marking the company’s first plant outside of Italy. Ducati plans to open a similar assembly plant in Brazil in 2012. Both are being established to service their own individual markets.
Ducati dealers can also expect a new SAP-based Dealer Communication System to launch in 2012.
“The level of support that we were giving to dealers was not enough, so we decided to invest in DCS [Dealer Communication System],” Del Torchio said. “I believe that when the system is in place, Ducati will have one of the best DCS in the industry.”
Comedian and Ducati fanatic Alonzo Bodden capped the day-long meeting with a knockout performance on a dinner cruise.
Read more from the meeting in an upcoming edition of Powersports Business.
- For more of the latest news, click here.
