We teased the news a little bit in our A&R Pro coverage of the EICMA show, but the one missing element in Ducati’s Milan presentation was its sales figures from the 2018 model year.
There is good reason for their absence though, as Ducati’s successive record years of sales are about to be no longer.
With Audi releasing its quarterly report, we can now see why, as the Italian motorcycle brand sees its deliveries to customers down 3% for the third quarter of this year – down 6.3% so far for 2018.
Audi records that Ducati sold 11,689 motorcycles in the third quarter of this year, which is 360 less than were sold in Q3 2017.
That is small sum, considering Ducati’s global presence, and its value can easily be explained by any of the western markets that are underperforming this year, especially the United States.
For the year so far, Ducati’s deficit is 2,963 for the first nine months of 2018. Audi’s report doesn’t break out the loses by region, but it is expected that North America accounts for the lion’s share of that number.
It is not all doom and gloom though for the Italian brand, as revenue year-to-date is €599 million, a modest gain of €1 million compared to the same time period in 2017.
This turns around Ducati’s trend for the year, which was down 2% in revenue halfway through 2018.
Source: Audi
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