Audi buying ducati!! wow

[cf1340]

The writer is confused. VW AG was (is?) fighting for controlling interest of Porsche GmbH, not Porsche SE.

http://www.porsche-se.com/pho/en/por...dingstructure/

Sorry but you really need to read current events.
Its in litigation currently

[mmmnaked]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...971351488.html

The merger with Porsche SE isn't happening, and VW is trying to buy out Porsche GmbH instead. Porsche SE still has and will continue to hold a majority share of VW AG. Unless you think the Porsche SE website is lying too.

[cf1340]

Porsche and Volkswagen are pretty intertwined too, not to mention the ~20% stake in Suzuki. Maybe Suzukis will finally get decent stock suspension.

Unfortunately this may not happen as just last week the 'honeymoon' between VW and Suzuki ended with Suzuki announcing the alliance is over and they are trying to get their shares back.
So their suspensions may not be getting better any time soon.

[ItIsWhatItIs]

Ducati should aproach Royal Dutch Shell as they own Ferrari for finanacial support. I don't see German Ownership as a positive for the Ducati Brand.

[mmmnaked]

Fiat owns Ferrari. And yeah that wouldve been a nice match.

[crankcall]

History and heritage are a funny thing, Ducati didnt build ANY motorcycles for the first 30yrs the company existed. Now its all they are known for. Lambo built farm equipment.
When Ducati was bought by the Americans it was a disaster, giving it back to the Italians gave it them a chance. Now with solid management to match design and "inspiration" they may be ready for the next 50years.

[SunnY S]

Those germans are a shrewd bunch.

I'll make a fearless prediction.... this deal WON'T go through.

Would make for a nice fairy tale though.

Actually, IMHO, M-B would be better suited to Ducati.

[SunnY S]

Porsche SE had the controlling interest in VW, just above 50%. Last I heard they reached a deal to merge, not for one to buy the other. According to wiki pages for Porsche and VW AG, Porsche SE had 50.73 voting rights in the company.

Wiki pages? The site where anybody can manipulate the information?

http://www.leftlanenews.com/daimler-...edia-page.html

Like I said.....those Germans are a shrewd bunch.

[Dahulk]

Heated seats and grips on the 2016 Ducaudi?

How about Ducati Quattro

[Dahulk]

whoever buys it may not be left with 800 million euros in debt. Restructuring would likely be part of any deal that size. I'd rather see a European company than the Indian firm rumoured to be looking take ownership. The last owners of Duc didnt do a great job with the place.

Wonder how much of that debt is associated with their racing team in MotoGP?

[crankcall]

Wonder how much of that debt is associated with their racing team in MotoGP?

thats an interesting question, at the premier level of racing there are so many expenses and so many sources of revenue you need a dedicated accounting office to follow it. As Kawi and Suzuki found it too difficult to stay up there Duc dug in deeper. It cant be cheap to drag all that gear around the globe.

[Dahulk]

thats an interesting question, at the premier level of racing there are so many expenses and so many sources of revenue you need a dedicated accounting office to follow it. As Kawi and Suzuki found it too difficult to stay up there Duc dug in deeper. It cant be cheap to drag all that gear around the globe.

I would love to know the cost as that is one of the reasons why MV has not gotten back into racing based upon their financial position which is debt free but not with deep pockets to support and sponsor racing. This is one reason why Kawasaki is pulling the plug on their Moto GP participation.

[boarder360]

I would love to know the cost as that is one of the reasons why MV has not gotten back into racing based upon their financial position which is debt free but not with deep pockets to support and sponsor racing. This is one reason why Kawasaki is pulling the plug on their Moto GP participation.

Heres some insight, bit out dated.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/raci...ace-in-motogp/

I wonder if after giving an engine for the crt's if bmw will ever make a factory team.

[Dahulk]

Heres some insight, bit out dated.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/raci...ace-in-motogp/

I wonder if after giving an engine for the crt's if bmw will ever make a factory team.

Depends for advertising WSB is better. However for R&D Motogp will provide some of that. Reminds of when Honda left Formula 1 to move to Indy because North America was one of their largest market for their products.

Thanks for the article if Honda is spending a 100 million estimated even at half of that that is still 50 million a year for a niche bike mfg like Ducati.

[RetroGrouch]

Isn't Ducati Italian? How is the Ducati Brand better off being consumed by the Germans? If Ducati is in Trouble they should make a deal with piaggio/vespa/Aprilia and keep their brand Italian.

Italians are great at making beautiful bikes, but lousy at making money. The Italian government and Cagiva owned Ducati during the 70s and 80s and neither could turn a profit.

[Dresden]

I've read elsewhere that Ducati's worldwide sales last year were around 40,000 bikes, and they have 800 million euros in debt ... now I fully realize that you do not recover your debt in one year, but that's several times their annual sales in debt, not a good position to be in. If their debt servicing cost is in the 10% range, it's 2000 euros per bike just paying the interest on that debt.

On the other hand, the VW Group just reported something like 16 billion euros in profit for last year and are the world's most profitable auto-maker, which means the billion or so to pick up Ducati and assume their debt would be change left over in their pockets, barely more than a rounding error.

It would be good to have a large company backing them up like this, and the VW Group has some technologies that could really be interesting if they crossed over to motorcycles.

Agree on all counts. Ducati could benefit in the long run from some finely-tuned German quality control. Hopefully the big wigs at VAG wll leave the creative design to Ducati and not meddle in the process too much.

Lamborghini is miles ahead of where it was before Audi stepped in. (00-01)

[topendz]

LED headlights on the new Duc's down the road?

whether Audi or MB, I doubt it would hurt Ducati much.

The 1199s is full LED actually.

[topendz]

Perspective.....

Ducati sold about 30,000 total motorcycles worldwide in 2010.

BMW moved, R1200GS series alone, totaling over 38,000 worldwide in the same time.

Total BMW sales, over 100,000 bikes.

Woop de do da.

[topendz]

Ducati should aproach Royal Dutch Shell as they own Ferrari for finanacial support. I don't see German Ownership as a positive for the Ducati Brand.

Apparently Hero (India) are also seriously looking.

[vkhamphi]

Woop de do da.

If Sunny's numbers are close to reality those percentages you quoted means squat.