More doom and gloom for the motorcycle industry, as Ducati Motor Holdings sales are slumping for the 2018 model year. Selling 32,250 motorcycles so far this year, the Italian brand is short 7.4% the volume it sold this time last year.
To translate unit sales into fiat currency, the 32,250 motorcycles sold equals €448 million in revenue going into Audi’s coffers. Of note, Ducati’s revenue contribution to Audi AG accounts for 1.4% of the automaker’s total revenue.
For the second quarter of this year, Ducati sales were down 8.9% compared to Q2 2017. This means that 20,319 Ducati motorcycles were sold in Q2 2018, compared to the 22,300 sold in Q2 2017.
All segments for Ducati are down, except for its “Sport” category (SuperSport and Superbike models), which is up 29% with 7,683 units sold to customers over the first six months of this year. The trend is similar for Q2 2018.
The new Ducati Panigale V4 superbike is surely the driving force behind this sales segment increase (it really is quite good), though the Italian brand says that the Multistrada 1260 was another key-seller for Ducati.
In terms of markets, many of Ducati’s major markets are down (though the brand fails to list which), but the Italian market is up, as Italy is seeing a rebound of its motorcycle market as a whole.
Hold onto your butts, because it looks like 2018 will be the end of Ducati’s eight-year sales increase, though 2017 barely saw the Italian brand grow. With other European brands feeling the sales crunch worldwide, Ducati is likely not going to be alone in seeing its record sales figures ending.
We expect similar trends from BMW and Triumph, in this regard, though KTM seems to still be moving forward as its street motorcycle continue to gain steam. Check back in six months, though, for the final tally.
Source: Audi AG
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