For the first half of 2017 (to June 30) parent company Audi reported Ducati worldwide sales as +0.1% at 34,854 units.
Sales of Hypermotard and Multistrada models were up +7.5% (9,457 units), with their Supersport and Superbike models up by + 27.2% at 5,971 units for the first half of 2017.
However, sales of Scramblers were down by -9.7% at 8,674 units, with sales of Ducati’s “naked/cruiser” market models (Monster, Diavel, Streetfighter) down by - 8.1% for the first six months of 2017 (10,752 units).
Perhaps partly explaining the view that was emerging in July (as the first bids for Ducati were received by VW’s advisors Evercore), namely that the asking price being sought for Ducati was too high, total revenue for the first six months of the year was -5.6% down at 459m euro (down from 486m in the first six months of 2016), with Ducati operating profit way off at 38m euro (from 58m euro in 2016 (-4.5 percent); operating margin was 8.2 percent, down from 11.9% last year.
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| Ducati made 32,981 units in Bologna in the first half of 2017 |
On a worldwide basis, total Ducati production fell by -12.2% to 37,870 units in the first half of 2017 (from 43,114 units in the first half of 2016), however, Audi say much of this was due to year-on-year model introduction timing variances and that the company saw production increase in the second quarter of 2017 to something like the Q2 levels seen in 2016, with profitability and margins recovering accordingly.
Audi say 32,981 Ducatis were made at the Bologna headquarters factory, 4,369 units being assembled at its Thailand facility, and some 520 CKD kits being assembled in Brazil.
Sales in Ducati’s Italian home market saw a “strong rise in deliveries, and we were also able to hand over more motorcycles than in the previous year to Ducati customers in the United States. In Germany, by contrast, the number of bikes delivered declined in line with the overall market”.