A Better Look at How Ducati Sales Weathered the Pandemic Storm

As predicted, Audi has dropped its Q1 2021 financials report, which means we get a glimpse into Ducati’s first quarter results for the year – and more specifically, which segments in Ducati’s lineup are performing (or not).

As we teased earlier this week, sales are strong for the Italian brand. Ducati is posting a 33% gain over 2020’s dismal numbers, but more importantly, Ducati still managed to show a 2% gain against the first quarter of 2019.

Breaking the three quarters down, side by side, we can see some interesting trends within the segments – most notably the huge sales spike (~19%) courtesy of the Streetfighter V4, when compared to the 2019 figures.

For a bike that debuted in 2020, the Streetfighter V4 continues to carry Ducati’s sales, especially in its naked category.

Conversely, a look at the Hyper/Multi sales over the past three time periods shows a different story, though one should note that the Q1 2021 figure includes very few Multistrada V4 sales (if any).

We would expect then to see this segment jumping in popularity on Ducati’s Q2 report, considering the strong reviews the bike has garnered, and the market response to Ducati’s new flagship model.

Despite the Scrambler 800 being Ducati’s best-selling model (to be fair, there are roughly 31 flavors of the bike available from the Italian brand), the Scrambler lineup has taken a steep ~9% drop since 2019.

Few meaningful updates to the line, and perhaps a customer that is more affected by the pandemic, are maybe reasons for this tumble for the Scrambler name.

Lastly, there is the Superbike lineup, which benefits from some smart refinements coming to the 2021 model of the Panigale V4 range.

Having an update come to the Supersport lineup helps keep things on balance as well, but it will be interesting to see this segment’s net results at the end of the year.

Looking at the regions, Italy remains Ducati’s top single market, with Europe accounting for 52% of Ducati’s sales. Compare that to the mere 13% that the US commands, and contrast it to the 8% that China now accounts for on Ducati’s sales sheet.

Segment	Q1 2021	Q1 2020	Q1 2019	% Δ to ’19
Scrambler	2,635	1,761	2,894	– 8.9 %
Diavel / Monster / Streetfighter	3,629	2,472	3,054	+ 18.8 %
Hypermotard / Multistrada	4,009	2,912	4,113	– 2.5 %
Supersport / Superbike	2,530	2,460	2,480	+ 2.0 %
Total	12,803	9,605	12,541	+ 2.1 %