Ducati up for sale?
The Italian brand's parent company is looking for a new buyer, but it's not because the Ducati is struggling -- quite the oppositeDucati's parent company, private equity group Investindustrial, has reportedly been shopping around the Ducati motorcycle brand in order to aggressively grow the company, which sells around 40,000 bikes per annum.
Andrea Bonomi, Investindustrial’s chairman, told the Financial Times that "Ducati is now a perfect company but the further growth it requires needs the support of a world-class industrial partner."
As such, Investindustrial is in talks with car makers and industrial groups in Europe and Asia, and names such as BMW, Volkswagen and Indian-based Mahindra are believed to be on the shortlist.
Investindustrial wants to 'internationalise' Ducati and this will be difficult without the help of a larger company that already has a large manufacturing infrastructure.
Ducati is one of the most well-known motorcycle brands in the world, and rivals Harley-Davidson for brand awareness.
If an established car company such as Mahindra or Volkswagen did buy Ducati from Investindustrial, it would potentially accelerate development of Ducati motorcycles and lead to an expansion of the range in order to conquer new market segments, such as scooters and small capacity 250cc sports bikes.
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