Splitsville For AMG And Ducati

by Derek Kreindler

Published: April 20th, 2012

Once again, the temptation to create some sexually sugesstive headline like many other blogs is great – THIS IS THE AUDI THAT CUCKOLDED AMG’S DUCATI – is one that springs to mind. Instead, we offer you a dour, Germanic explanation of why things went south with Ducati and AMG.

“Since the end of 2010 a successful marketing cooperation has existed between AMG and Ducati. The company takeover by a rival car manufacturer has understandably resulted in the end of any further collaboration. The takeover of Ducati was never our aim – our focus lies clearly in developing and producing premium performance cars and we will be concentrating all our energy on this.”

Far less dramatic and interesting, but surely, it comes from a place of bitterness after Ducati told AMG “it’s not you, it’s me”. Some are suggesting that the Ducati Diavel AMG could be a collectors item, but surely such an ugly bike will never reach those vaunted heights.

#AMG #Audi #Ducati #Mercedes-Benz #Motorcycles #SportsCars

Derek Kreindler

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7 comments

Hakata on Apr 20, 2012

God I hate that bike. Like a Monster humping a VMAX.

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- Rod Panhard on Apr 20, 2012
  
  I'm no fan of it either. But hey, it's another product that's in the category of "things I really should have no opinion about because it is not designed for me." Mrs. Panhard saw one last weekend when we were at The Gathering of The Nortons at Washington's Crossing, PA. She surmised that the person who designed must be suffering from chronic blue balls. And for what it's worth, I wouldn't be surprised if the AMG/Ducati tie-up was as much of a reason for Audi to buy Ducati as just about anything else. Rather than just "sour grapes" a situation, end it buy buying one of the parties.
  
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- Bunkie on Apr 20, 2012
  
  It's not so bad in real life. First, it looks much less massive in person. Second, I kind of like the "hanging-in-space" quality of the rear wheel. Third, it sounds like a proper Duck. Still not my cup of tea, but not so polarizing as I expected.
  
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Ellomdian on Apr 20, 2012

The Diavel is a really nice bike. I have one on order, so I am biased. And the design is really targeted towards the 20-30something set, so I have gotten a few weird looks from the guys at work when on my tester. But I love the way it looks, and I really love that I don't have to get a streetbike and a cruiser - I just flip a switch on the Diavel. But I digress... The AMG bike will (hopefully) NEVER be a collectors edition - it's a minor performance tweak from the "Carbon" edition with custom wheels and some body cladding (funny that the article's picture isn't even the carbon - it's the base model.) And "highly successful" in this case really does just mean "we made a co-lab bike" - I don't think I've really seen many Pointed Stars around the local Ducati store.

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- CliffG on Apr 20, 2012
  
  Not the bike for me, but my riding buddy, owner of RC51 amongst others, has totally fallen for it. Great seating position and its' weird combo of near sportsbike performance and cruiserishness either gets you or not. Hopefully your Ducati dealer doesn't treat you like something off the bottom of his shoe like he does me...
  
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- Hakata on Apr 20, 2012
  
  Well, now I feel bad. Enjoy it, I'm sure it drives like a dream. I'll just keep puttering around on my '70s beater bikes and complaining about the darn kids on my lawn.
  
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Sportyaccordy on Apr 20, 2012

I am another Diavel fan. Really have to see it in its element to appreciate it. Looks awful in pics and even next to other Ducs.

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