Audi has bought Ducati

[Jodell88]

Volkswagen's Audi arm has bought Italian motorcycle firm Ducati for an undisclosed sum.

The 20-member supervisory board of Europe's largest carmaker agreed to add a 12th brand to its portfolio.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17763547

This makes no sense to me.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Wow. I thought Ducati was successful...

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm not sure how I feel about this...

Not even sure why Ducati was up for sale. They have had strong sales even during this down economy.

 

[jlarsson]

While it's true that Ducati has had strong sales over the past few years (hell, I've bought 2 over the past few years), I recall hearing them having significant amount of debt on their books.

I'm not sure what VW/Audi gets out of this outside of having a "rare/luxury" brand. I hear that the VW chairman loves Ducati, and missed an earlier opportunity to purchase the company.

 

[Arkaign]

Bah. VAG.

 

[dawp]

here's a nice little analysis of the purchase:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/04/audi-buys-ducati/

 

[Harrod]

here's a nice little analysis of the purchase:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/04/audi-buys-ducati/

I read that before leaving work tonight, it's pretty interesting what they were able to do for Lamborghini, I had no idea sales of those cars were so low in the late 90's.

 

[SSSnail]

To think, Faceassbook could have bought Ducati for 1.1BN instead of a useless program...

 

[RavenSEAL]

To think, Faceassbook could have bought Ducati for 1.1BN instead of a useless program...

I don't want the scrubs on my Facebook page tracking me as I drive down the coastline with hookers and blow on my Ducati...

On a serious note...yeah, I don't know what to think either about the purchase, didn't know Ducati was for sale to begin with.

 

[manimal]

Realistically the end product will only improve on the high end since VAGs track record with Lambo has been decent to my surprise.


They may decide to dilute the brand with 5k bikes however.

 

[PricklyPete]

I really don't see the issue. The company has been bounced around between different investment groups for a while. Who cares if Audi owns them now...at least the parent company has some experience that may help Ducati continue to excel. If Lambo is a model for what Audi can do with an Italian super-car manufacturer, then I don't see how they would screw up Ducati.

 

[Scout80]

I don't see any issues with this either. They are now part of an automotive group with much deeper pockets and many more talented engineers.

 

[foghorn67]

I really don't see the issue. The company has been bounced around between different investment groups for a while. Who cares if Audi owns them now...at least the parent company has some experience that may help Ducati continue to excel. If Lambo is a model for what Audi can do with an Italian super-car manufacturer, then I don't see how they would screw up Ducati.

Exactly. It's not it's been family owned for generations.

 

[roguerower]

Doesn't affect me, but from what I read it was bought more to be the "trophy" on the wall rather than a money making machine. 40k units a year is barely a drop in the bucket for VW.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I've given this some thought over the past few days and, honestly, I like the fact that it was purchased by someone who did it out of passion for the brand and not because it made sense financially. That's exactly the kind of person you need to run a company like Ducati.