It seems we will see Ducati’s 2020 model year lineup a bit sooner than we expected, as the Italian brand will host a special unveiling event in Rimini, on October 23rd of this year.
At the special event, we expect Ducati to unveil more than a few motorcycles, the crown jewel likely being the Ducati Streetfighter V4.
Another bike we expect to see is the revamped Ducati Panigale 959, which will get a restyling to look like the Panigale V4, along with other features (and possibly a displacement increase) as the Euro5 regulations may necessitate.
The Ducati Multistrada V4 could make its debut in October as well, though early indications is that it will be a 2021 model, however we would expect another Scrambler model to be in the lineup this October, with revisions coming to some of Ducati’s other machines.
Beyond getting to see Ducati’s wares a few weeks earlier than we anticipated, there is an interesting storyline here that relates to the EICMA show.
Anyone that has been on the press or marketing side of the business knows the chaos that comes from Milan during the EICMA trade show week, with dozens and dozens of bikes and products being released at the same time from a plethora of manufacturers.
To combat this, Ducati has been at the forefront of pushing its model releases earlier and earlier before the actual start of the EICMA show, which has led to an arms race of sorts, as other brands have followed suit and vied for unveiling dates ahead of the trade show in Milan.
What started as just a jumpstart one day ahead of the show’s opening, these efforts have seen special model releasing events held now on even the Saturday ahead of EICMA’s official Tuesday start for model debuts.
We have perhaps always been coming to a head on that situation, and now we see that Ducati is first to strike with the nuclear option, which is to unveil its models not at EICMA, but at its own private event that is completely separate to what happens in Milan.
This is not to say that Ducati will abstain from holding onto some minor releases for the EICMA show floor, or perhaps at a more subdued event in Milan just ahead of trade show, but the grand unveilings that we have seen before at EICMA seem to be no longer.
The real question now is whether other brands will follow suit. Considering the sophistication that we have seen shown by many marques who unveil at EICMA, especially with live-streamed events, all the necessary elements for a non-EICMA release are present, except perhaps the will to do so.
With more manufacturers and brands looking to get their signal beyond the noise of EICMA show though, we would ultimately expect similar late-Fall unveilings to occur, especially as more brands question the value of trade shows like INTERMOT, EIMCA, AIMExpo, etc.
Source: Ducati
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