Reuters: Bidders For Ducati Sale Now Includes Benetton Family
According to Reuters, the list of possible suitors for the rumored Ducati sale has grown to include the Benetton family in an effort to return the Italian manufacturer’s ownership to Italy. Among the bids that Volkswagen has received for the Italian marque, Edition Holding (the Benetton family’s investment firm) has reportedly made a $1.2 billion offer. Included in the companies supposedly vying for Ducati, readers may be interested to learn that Bain Capital (which owns a piece of Can-Am parent BRP), Eicher Motors (the company that controls Royal Enfield) and Polaris Industries (parent company of Indian Motorcycle) are supposedly in the bidding along with, most notably, Harley-Davidson. However, the inclusion of HD in this list is now in doubt, as Reuters states that the high price tag may have prompted The Motor Company to withdraw from bidding.
Regardless of which company ends up with the highest bid for Ducati, the final decision must be approved by Volkswagen’s labor unions which control half of the votes on the company’s supervisory board. This may be a tough sell since the union officials have made more than one statement of opposition to the sale of the motorcycle company.
Read the full Reuters report here.
Like most of the best happenings in his life, Evans stumbled into his motojournalism career. While on his way to a planned life in academia, he applied for a job at a motorcycle magazine, thinking he’d get the opportunity to write some freelance articles. Instead, he was offered a full-time job in which he discovered he could actually get paid to ride other people’s motorcycles – and he’s never looked back. Over the 25 years he’s been in the motorcycle industry, Evans has written two books, 101 Sportbike Performance Projects and How to Modify Your Metric Cruiser, and has ridden just about every production motorcycle manufactured. Evans has a deep love of motorcycles and believes they are a force for good in the world.
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If you see the history of Italian motorcycles many times the Italians have come forward and rescued a company from going out of Italian hands. This just shows how proud the Italians are of their own products. BUT, they seem to be bad business people otherwise why would companies be up for sale every few years? All this 'heritage, feeling, character, history...' and such esoteric stuff in advertising doesn't work any more. What people need is 'reliability, engineering and affordability'.. Look at the rise of KTM in the last decade! Ducati, MV Agusta, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia need to catch up drastically or else this will be the fate.
Who owns the others in Europe? Piaggio? They own Aprillia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, Gilera, Scarabao, Vespa, and APE vehicles. Not to mention Piaggio Aerospace. Polaris would not be a good fit, they need to bring back their own hotrods, Harley has an abysmal record owning other motorcycle companies (Buell, Aermacchi). Triumph has too many bikes that would compete directly with it. Royal Enfield of India just wouldn't be a good fit either, although they make some great bikes now. Benneton is a clothing company but has sponsored Formula 1 car racing... hmmmm. KTM - Since 2012, KTM has been the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Europe for four consecutive years. Might be a good fit! Interestingly Ducati is technically owned by Lamboghini right now after being rescued from Cagiva.
So who should buy Ducati ? Ferrari ;-)