Hey, That's My Bike! Sale of Ducati Shelved by Audi CEO

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Like an overspending spouse whose partner has commanded they sell their toys to pay off debts, Volkswagen put all its options on the table earlier this year in a bid to raise some cash.

After mulling a sale of Ducati during the darkest days of Dieselgate, VW now plans to hang on to the brand. Recently taking action to curb costs and cut red tape, chief executive Rupert Stadler said the company is “gradually increasing our financial and organizational leeway.” Sounds like VW has found a few more coins amid the couch cushions.

Reuters reports Stadler has said there is no longer any economic need to sell Ducati, after asking The Man earlier this year to investigate options for raising funds. Saddled with the bills from its emissions scandal, the company went into full penny-pinching mode after shovelling over $20 billion to the United States in a bid to pay for its dark, sooty, diesel sins.

“I can assure you that Ducati belongs to the Audi family,” said Stadler. “Ducati is the perfect implementation of our premium philosophy in the world of motorbikes.”

Knee-deep in expensive zero-emissions projects and autonomous driving efforts, the auto maker needs all the dough it can get. Both the Ducati and Lamborghini lines are big cash cows for the company, as their lucrative profits help to pad the financial ledger in times of heavy cash outflow elsewhere in the organization.

Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand purchased Ducati for just under $1 billion in 2012, nearly 20 years after ex-VW chairman Ferdinand Piëch, a motorcycle enthusiast, passed on an earlier chance. Up to that point, the company had been passed around like a hot potato, having been bought and sold several times.

The real news, of course, is the expected arrival in 2019 of a Ducati section within the Mirabilandia theme park in Italy. Mirabilandia is like an Italian Disney World, except with what I imagine would be a lot more wine. Like the Ferrari park in Abu Dhabi, rollercoasters and simulators are planned, along with a Ducati showroom. A Ducati-themed park means, of course, that the rides will be costly to buy, temperamental to use, and expensive to repair.

However, it’ll look gorgeous and capture your heart during the three days of the year it’s running correctly.

[Image: Audi AG]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Dec 12, 2017

    "Ducati-themed park" I wonder what the Diavel ride will be like? Brutally fact acceleration then brutally hard deceleration due to a bunch of typical cruisers in the way?

  • IHateCars IHateCars on Dec 13, 2017

    "A Ducati-themed park means, of course, that the rides will be costly to buy, temperamental to use, and expensive to repair." Lol....funny but no longer true. Modern Ducatis may be marginally more expensive to buy new (special editions notwithstanding)but they are as reliable as your typical Japanese sportbike. Both my Diavel and Panigale have been pretty much trouble-free and parts prices (both OE and aftermarket) are about on par with R1s, CBRs and S1000RRs.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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