RE: PH2: Audi buys Ducati

[ortontom]

I use to have a duke monster, it should be good for them, well it would have been good for me. My throttle stuck open once on a wet day in west london, resolved by me returning the throttle body by hand and carrying on....it also use to get stuck on the starter, so the starter would run and run until switched off.......how old was the bike, about 6 months

[VonSenger]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Its true, before the new Panigale arrived I'd rather poke my eyes out with a rusty nail than own a Ducati

I had to call round for 2 weeks to get a slot when I purchased my first 1098 back in 2007 so it's nothing new. I believe things are much better now but the damage has been done. This damage to the brand regarding reliability will take a while to erode but the message is getting around, BN is almost on side, isn't that right northern monkey?

[ZesPak]

e30s50b30 said:

Ducati has been purchased as a present for Audi chairman Ferdinand Peich. He must be chuffed to bits

imagine how that conversation went.

• hey, we got you Ducati.
• what Ducati?
• nono, we bought you Ducati.
• yeeeeees, but which one?

[Gorbyrev]

Can we have a competition as to how long it takes a Golf component to make its way on to a Ducati?!

[BILL PAYER]

uncle tez said:

Does this mean that all ducatis from now on will all look the same ?

No just means they might become well made and not unreliable.

[VictorMeldrew]

uncle tez said:

Does this mean that all ducatis from now on will all look the same ?

They always have?

Sounds like a good move to me, very similar to Audi/Lambo. Personally I have always had a fondness for Dukes, even got as close to test riding a Multistrada a couple of years ago, but that lingering worry about build quality has always been there. A Ducati built under the auspices of Audi might be more palatable.

[Numeric]

I'm with all those who are perplexed as to why Audi have done this. In terms of group profitability BMW sticks the Motorrad division in as a footnote (and we forget they were building bikes pre war so have an emotional attachment as well as financial one) and I presumed Ducati would never be more than that at VAG no matter how succesful ........except for one thing which may have been mentioned earlier so apologies for repeating it. While the 2 wheel market may be fairly defined in Europe - Asia on the other hand has huge expansion scope and we know how keen VAG are on China especially. With a powerful brand name for premium priced bikes from Scooters to sports bikes it may be worth a punt by VAG.

[PetrolAholic]

R39S1 said:

FWDRacer said:

Platform Engineering? Economies of scale? Some might say soulless engineering and attention to all the important stuff... like shutlines.

All sits very comfortably with Ducati brand heritage.

They've nearly managed to castrate/anaesthetise Lamborghini FFS. I fear the same for Ducati.

Well If the Aventador is Castrated, God help us if they ever find its bks!

Don't make many posts but that just actually made me LOL.

[PaulMoor]

JS100 said:

jamespink said:

PaulMoor said:

Hopefully they will build a viable BMW alternative, and also make BMW up there game a little. However I can't see what Audi have to gain from this, its not like anyone ever had the choice between an A4 and a 320tdi and said "I'll buy the 320 because I hear the K1300 is a realy good bike"

"and also make BMW up their game a little"... They are already streets ahead, look at the new R 1200 R!

As if BMW don't torture us enough with their cars!!! ...they have to build bikes too! If it makes BMW give up, I for one would be delighted!

I'm not saying BMW don't build good bikes, just that more direct competition wouldn't hurt.

Also, what's wrong with BMW bikes? Why on earth would you think them stopping building them would be a good thing?

[il-mostro]

I've been a Ducati owner since 1999 and in all that time, 8 bikes, only one was unreliable. That was an early 1000 MultiStrada. I have owned:
2x 900 SuperSport
1x 600 Monster
1x 750 Monster
1x 900 Monster for 6 trouble free years
2x ST2, one which has taken me all over Europe and I still own and love to bits
1x troublesome MultiStrada
I think the reputation Ducati have for being unreliable is totally unfounded. If the bike is serviced properly and looked after, it will give you many miles of happy biking. I can vouch for early 90's bikes or earlier, but my experience with Ducati has been superb.
I personally am worried about Ducati and the Audi marriage. I am not an Audi fan and find them pretty soulless, and I hope this doesn't happen to Ducati, a very characterful brand. My issues with Ducati, is that their bikes are very expensive, if you are just a normal person on normal wages. I can't ever see me buying a new Ducati as they are just too expensive. I fear that Ducati being bought by a premium brand like Audi will not not to help lower prices, or even push the prices higher.
Interesting times ahead.

[predding]

JonRB said:

Twincam16 said:

but I do worry - what on earth does Audi know about bikes?

What on earth does Audi *need* to know about bikes? One presumes that Ducati know plenty about bikes. Audi have merely bought them, that's all.

Audi (VAG) have the NSU link who made and raced motorcycles for years so there is a lot of history within VAG - the museum is at Neckarsulm where they made the UR Quattro and now houses the quattro team who make the RS cars...

[VonSenger]

il-mostro said:

I've been a Ducati owner since 1999 and in all that time, 8 bikes, only one was unreliable. That was an early 1000 MultiStrada. I have owned:
2x 900 SuperSport
1x 600 Monster
1x 750 Monster
1x 900 Monster for 6 trouble free years
2x ST2, one which has taken me all over Europe and I still own and love to bits
1x troublesome MultiStrada
I think the reputation Ducati have for being unreliable is totally unfounded. If the bike is serviced properly and looked after, it will give you many miles of happy biking. I can vouch for early 90's bikes or earlier, but my experience with Ducati has been superb.
I personally am worried about Ducati and the Audi marriage. I am not an Audi fan and find them pretty soulless, and I hope this doesn't happen to Ducati, a very characterful brand. My issues with Ducati, is that their bikes are very expensive, if you are just a normal person on normal wages. I can't ever see me buying a new Ducati as they are just too expensive. I fear that Ducati being bought by a premium brand like Audi will not not to help lower prices, or even push the prices higher.
Interesting times ahead.

yep, +1. 27k miles on my 1098, not one issue. Not had any reliability issues with any of my dukes......touch wood

[MrOrange]

BILL PAYER said:

No just means they might become well made and not unreliable.

Utter tosh spouted by the ill-informed.

Guy at work has a 9-year old 749 with 30k on the clock. It lives a rough life with lots of time spent outside and he commutes in the winter. He does looks after it so it looks fresh and new and the only issue he's had in the last few years was a holed oil radiator.

[chibbard]

Just to even things up. My 59 reg fireblade is the first bike I've had that has required me to argue with Honda customer services with regards to build quality/rust issues. This is one of the reasons I am looking at replacing it with a Panigalle or BMW1000rr in the near future. Sorry, but japanese bike manufacturers are not helping themselves. They are handing over their loyal customers (me for sure) to the Italians and Germans without knowing it. All IMO of course !!!!

[tommy vercetti]

ZesPak said:

Mr2Mike said:

For anyone that watches Top Gear

Lol

[Dare2Fail]

Street cred killed deader than a dead thing that has been cremated and then burried.

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-bizarre/j...

[BILL PAYER]

MrOrange said:

Utter tosh spouted by the ill-informed.

Guy at work has a 9-year old 749 with 30k on the clock. It lives a rough life with lots of time spent outside and he commutes in the winter. He does looks after it so it looks fresh and new and the only issue he's had in the last few years was a holed oil radiator.

Must be a lot of other ill informed people out there too in that case.

[Kolbenkopp]

Not necessarily a bad outcome for both parties me thinks.

The amazing fact for me is that apparently the tech people at Audi still have something to say in the running of the company. How else could they have managed to get this deal past the board? They will never make any significant amount of money on the bike market. Everybody must be aware of that. But still they got the go ahead to buy this little jewel.

Conclusion for me is that the tech side at Audi might still have some say and perhaps in the future we can even see some less boring cars from then? And Ducati just got to a good home were they are appreciated for what they are and given the funds to become even better.

[VictorMeldrew]

Audi now own the right to Desmodromic valve timing. I wonder if this is likely to see the light of day in a car engine? Desmo 5.2 V10 FSI?

[il-mostro]

VictorMeldrew said:

Audi now own the right to Desmodromic valve timing. I wonder if this is likely to see the light of day in a car engine? Desmo 5.2 V10 FSI?

I wasn't aware that Ducati had any rights over the desmodronic valve timing? I just thought they were the only company to really making a go of it?
I can't think off the top of my head, any other engine that uses the desmo system, but I'd love to know otherwise. I have seen desmo heads mated to a Harley engine. That was just technical porn!