According to Autocar, Audi is in the process of developing a two-wheeled vehicle, either a scooter or motorcycle, which is interesting news considering the recency of the company’s purchase of Ducati. Promised not to be a Ducati with an Audi badge, there are not many other details about the news, though intelligent conjecture would imagine the project is along the same vein as the BMW C600 scooter.
Automakers are currently obsessed with the “last mile” concept of people transportation, which foresees ultra-small cars, scooters, and other two-wheeled vehicles doing the bulk of urban transportation in the coming future.
An Audi scooter would fit in line with this current trend, as well as give a competing offering against brands like BMW, Mini, Smart, etc. Careful when playing the branding game, just about the only detail released about the Audi tw0-wheeler is about how the project fits in with freshly acquired Ducati, as the German brand has stated that it has no intention of just rebadging one of Bologna’s bikes and calling it its own.
Along that same vein, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler recently talked at Borgo Panigale, where he expressed that “Ducati remains Ducati” as he talked to the assembled workforce there in Bologna.
Talking to Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi’s sales and marketing executive, Autocar also published that Audi is looking at Ducati to aid in the development of other urban transportation projects, which Autocar assumes to mean primarily the scooter project in question, but the news could also mean a small-displacement four-wheeler akin to Smart’s car.
Expecting all these offerings to fall in the premium category, it will be interesting to see if Audi attempts to leverage the Ducati brand in these projects, or leaves clear air gaps between the two companies.
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