Ducati to be sold by Private Equity group?

[Travman]

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http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/24306246-5566-11e1-9d95-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1mDNp4eGG

Investindustrial, the Italian private equity group backed by the Bonomi family, is looking to dispose of the Ducati brand in a deal worth up to €1bn.  Ducati is set to change hands this year.  Its owner aims to make three times its initial investment by selling or listing the producer of top-end Italian motorcycles.

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[Expendable]

The best bet IMO is if BMW buys the company (if they absolutely have to sell). They are large enough to handle the debt and they have some really nice bikes of their own. You want to believe that BMW would keep some, if not all of Ducatis designers on staff. But that's in a perfect world....

[geoffduc]

Don't forget AMG Mercedes...

They already have links with Ducati...

Geoff...

[Expendable]

Don't forget AMG Mercedes...

They already have links with Ducati...

Geoff...

Who could argue with such a true statement??? could you imagine an Amg monster?? As with anything Amg the price would also be unimaginable.

[Curmudgeon]

Thanks. Poor timing IMO. If they need a cash infusion, an unrelated business is the best bet as one with a brain wouldn't tamper with the engineering and marketing very much. None of the car companies have much ready cash at the moment BTW.

To those who think BMW is a good fit, been there, got the t-shirt. (And that's from having them crap up my brand for 6 years before moving on. Almost killed the goose that lays the golden eggs. )

If it has to be a car company, VW might be passable if the Board of Management has enough Porsche people these days. I'm retired and haven't kept track lately. Was never very impressed with the road VW took with Bentley in Crewe although they've interfered less with Lamborghini than I'd expected.

Personally, IMO the Bloor/Triumph example is a better course for a two-wheeled niche-marketer.

[Curmudgeon]

Who could argue with such a true statement??? could you imagine an Amg monster?? As with anything Amg the price would also be unimaginable.

AMG is a "halo" division similar to the "M" division at BMW. Both are probably loss leaders. Benz doesn't need a motorcycle company but at least Benz is highly diversified and doesn't usually tamper with the better brands they own which include "other trade name" marine turbine, truck, bus, etc., etc. companies.

[muskrat]

  a good move with the right partner but something tells me that's going to be next to impossible.  An investment firm would be ideal IMO, any other bike conglomerate would finish the brand I think.

[stopintime]

FIAT ?

[zooom]

my vote would be for VW also....VWAG does seem to have their shit together in running things with their brands without necessarily diluting them or interfering too much...I think it would be a good things for both in the end...

[Bishamon]

This could be good or bad.  I'm worried.

FIAT ?

I was thinking the same thing; they are certainly better than some of the other options.

[Expendable]

Thanks. Poor timing IMO. If they need a cash infusion, an unrelated business is the best bet as one with a brain wouldn't tamper with the engineering and marketing very much. None of the car companies have much ready cash at the moment BTW.

To those who think BMW is a good fit, been there, got the t-shirt. (And that's from having them crap up my brand for 6 years before moving on. Almost killed the goose that lays the golden eggs. )

If it has to be a car company, VW might be passable if the Board of Management has enough Porsche people these days. I'm retired and haven't kept track lately. Was never very impressed with the road VW took with Bentley in Crewe although they've interfered less with Lamborghini than I'd expected.

Personally, IMO the Bloor/Triumph example is a better course for a two-wheeled niche-marketer.

Just because you had a bad experience with Beamer (I'm assuming the car end of things) does not mean they will fudge up the bike side. Have you seen the new BMW s1000, the liter bike that just dethroned all of the big 4 in the sportbike world? Didn't BMW also bring the mini cooper totally back to life as well??? Ducati is not dead, but if the rumors are true she's definitely wounded. I hope Ducati does not have to sell anything, but seeing the proven history of BMW turning things around with such a dead concept as the mini gives me the proof I need to say that they would be my choice if things had to go that route.

[Raux]

I think the S1000RR is exactly why I wouldn't want BMW to own Ducati.
I don't BMW would want to compete with itself. Therefore they would take Ducati further upmarket to avoid the comparison.

Mercedes is my bet. the association with AMG is a good thing so far (little meddling, one branded bike).

FIAT maybe, but they are betting too much right now reopening the US market.

[Expendable]

So let me get this right, your argument is that BMW would buy a company and then kill said company so that it would have less competition, instead of buying Ducati, attack whatever issues Ducati has had (tank issues and so on) and make god knows how much money from revamping a few small issues??? Any profit made from the Ducati brand would still go straight to BMW either way, so there wouldn't be any loss. The only loss would come from debt that Ducati already has. I'm not against an AMG monster either, but anything that Mercedes puts that AMG label on,said item price instantly skyrockets

[Curmudgeon]

Just because you had a bad experience with Beamer (I'm assuming the car end of things) does not mean they will fudge up the bike side. Have you seen the new BMW s1000, the liter bike that just dethroned all of the big 4 in the sportbike world? Didn't BMW also bring the mini cooper totally back to life as well??? Ducati is not dead, but if the rumors are true she's definitely wounded. I hope Ducati does not have to sell anything, but seeing the proven history of BMW turning things around with such a dead concept as the mini gives me the proof I need to say that they would be my choice if things had to go that route.

You wouldn't be a BMW fanboy, would you? 

BMW is still family-controlled and BMW is highly compartmentalized and arrogant. Munich is the opposite of "open-minded". You appear to be viewing BMW as a consumer. Your views would be different if you had access to insider information as I do/did. The motorcycle division in Berlin has always been a step-child and anyone who works in that division would confirm that this has been the case since the early '70's but they won't because they'd be "sacked and sued". Trust me on this one.

On MINI I could write a book since I knew the design team at Gaydon. Many now work in Munich. There was ZERO BMW content in that product for the first few years. In fact "we", (Land Rover), stamped the body panels. The whole Rover episode was a disgrace and the British government is still out of the huge loan they made BMW six months before BMW pulled the plug and grabbed the MINI project before selling off the Rover assets for 10 GBP.

Having not closely followed the motorcycle market for quite a while, I'm not sure what BMW is trying to do. Seems $30,000 touring bikes are the current profit center. The F-bikes are a mess though, so I bought a 796 which was both cheaper and far better IMO.

Maybe BMW is OK for Husqvarna since those bikes don't compete with any BMW. At least I hope that's true, since I helped a good friend get a job as Eastern Regional Sales Manager there last year. Reminds me that I owe him a call since we haven't spoken for months.

[Expendable]

Actually I'm an American consumer, but I know all of the companies in the states would probably screw up Ducati so bad no one would want it. I was clearly pointing out the fact that someone at BMW saw that mini design and said "this could be big". They have really good technology in all of their bikes and it's hard for me to believe they would not share said info with a company they just bought... I don't know about business deals that went bad or frame work ideas that were given away but I do know progress when I see it...