With 21 per cent sales growth and a World Superbike championship to boot, Ducati CEO Gabriele Del Torchio says last year was his company’s best ever.
At their annual Wroom media event in Italy, Ducati said they managed to sell 42,200 motorcycles last year despite global economic troubles, 80 per cent of them exported from Italy. The U.S. was their largest overseas market, followed by France and Germany, where Ducati saw a 31 per cent increase in sales. They even saw great growth in the far east, where sales were up 84 per cent.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Carlos Checa took the 1198 to win the World Superbike rider and manufacturer titles.
The company’s MotoGP efforts were a different story in 2011 – Valentino Rossi struggled with his motorcycle all season. But Ducati Corse boss Filippo Preziosi says 90 per cent of their MotoGP bike’s parts are new for 2012, so they’re hoping for a comeback season.
Del Torchio confirmed at Wroom that Rossi’s their guy again for 2012, despite his bad luck last year. Rossi, in turn, seems to be approaching this season more cautiously than last – he told reporters his team would have to fix problems “step by step” to catch up to Yamaha and Honda this season.
