Ducati Motor Holdings is happy to report that its 2015 sales are off to a great start: up 22% over the first half of 2014. In total, 32,600 motorcycles have been sold by Ducati since January, the most ever sold by Ducati during that time period.
Ducati is also saying that 9,000 of the machines sold were Scrambler models, making the model the most popular in Ducati’s lineup by a strong margin.
For reference, the sales of the other models are as follow: Multistrada 1200 (4,700), Monster 821 (3,700), 1299 Panigale (3,000), the remaining 12,000 units come from the Diavel, 899 Panigale, Hypermotard, and Monster 1200
Ducati says it grew across all of its sales territories, with the USA still the company’s #1 market, and sporting a 10% growth figure so far this year. The USA didn’t post the biggest numbers though, with following countries showing strong sales growth: Italy (+51%), Spain (+38%), the UK (+36%), Germany (+24%), and France (+23%).
Both the United States and Japan posted record sales for the first six months of 2015, 1,900 and 500 units respectively.
“This record-breaking performance by Ducati in the first half of 2015stems from the incredible efforts made over the last two years,” commented Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding. “Products like the Scrambler, Multistrada and 1299 Panigale reflect the extraordinary talent of workers who, day after day, dedicate themselves to making customers’ dreams come true.”
“This exceptional growth is the result of teamwork, an ability to handle the complexity of selling in over 90 countries and running 11 branches and 3 production plants. That makes me incredibly proud. A big helping hand has, of course, come from the Ducati Corse racing division, of which our customers are the biggest fans.”
Of course, a sales boost from Ducati is to be expected with the addition of a new segment line, especially one that sits on the bottom end of Ducati’s price points. Here’s the asterisk though:
Subtracting the Scrambler sales from Ducati’s figures shows a very different story for the Bologna brand. Sales sans the Scrambler (say that three time fast), are roughly 23,600, according to Ducati’s numbers here.
That number is an 11% decrease over Ducati’s sales in the first six months of 2014 (~26,740). Certainly some of the Scrambler sales are coming at the cost of what would otherwise be sales for the Monster 821, or other models.
The question we will leave for you to decide is whether 3,100 of those sales are due to canabalization, that figure representing the volume needed for 2015’s sales to equal Ducati’s in 2014, or if something else is going on for the Ducati brand overall.
We have already explained that Ducati dealers don’t make very much money on each Scrambler sold, and with the other model sales down compared to last year, a bleak picture is being painted for the Ducati dealer network.
We of course have six more months left in the year, which means anything can happen for Ducati’s 2015 sales total. As we are fond of saying, time will tell how this pans out for Ducati and its dealers. But, interesting things are afoot.
Source: Ducati
Comments