It's official: Audi buys Ducati

Long has it been gossiped about in corridors and office-lunchrooms, but now finally there's some clarity into the matter. An anonymous inside source confirms that Audi is officially set to buy the Italian motorcycle-company Ducati from its owner Investindustrial.

Said source also confirms that an initial agreement has been made, and that the deal now only awaits final formalities. The trade is due to be approved by VW's supervisory board as soon as today, and if that goes smoothly Audi is home free. VW boss and supervisory board chairman "der Alte" Ferdinand Piëch already expressed his interest in buying Ducati in 2008, so Audi will most likely have no difficulty getting the deal contra-signed.

I'm not sure if those two brands quite match...

The trade sum according to the agreement is somewhere around 860 million euros ($1.1 billion), which at that amount would value Ducati at 7 times its last year's earnings with its debt of about 200 million euros not counted in. 

Both Audi and Investindustrial have declined to comment on this matter, but obviously they don't really need to either because we have our own ways of getting to the bottom of things. Hehe.

When Audi reels in Ducati it will become the 11th brand under Volkswagen Group's belt, joining alongside the Italian supercar-brands Bugatti and Lamborghini as a curiosity in the VW Group's high-end accessory department. 

Viewed in a bigger scale the Ducati-deal is small potatoes for Volkswagen Group, who has also had an interest in Fiat group's Alfa Romeo. This Ducati-affair is merely another step for Volkswagen Group in creating the VW Italy empire and gaining a foothold in peoples hearts rather than their minds as they've done this far, a PR-trick so to say. Christoph Stürmer, an analyst for IHS automotive commented: 

"Ducati is one of the finest machines you can buy but strategically it's insignificant for Volkswagen, Its revenue is more than Lamborghini's and Bugatti's combined, but to the automotive operations, it's a mere accessory."

The legendary 916SPS

This Ducati-deal is also a way for VW Group to get into the two-wheel competition with BMW who owns Husqvarna and makes bikes under its own name. And what a spectacular way it is. Ducati, since its debut in the Superbike World Championship in 1988, has won 14 championships and 16 manufacturer's championships, dictating the pace in the 90's and 2000's single-handedly, winning almost everything in their way. The mentality "develop for track, use on road" is a deep-rooted tradition with Ducati, and with their enormous successes in the racing-field they have long sold bikes according to the business-model "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday".


I think personally it's a real shame, this. I can't quite accept that an act of passion, a lifestyle, is eaten up by a German super-empire. What will become of Ducati when Audi is in charge of it? I hope they'll leave the Italians alone with it, because we want a Ducati not a machine. The flair certainly disappears as soon as you slap an Audi-reminder on it...


-HS


What do you think? Good or bad?


source: reuters, autonews.com




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