“Inflation is hurting people badly, the global economy is crashing, nobody has money for nice things.” That first statement is true, the second statement might be true, but the third statement in that paragraph definitely isn’t true—at least, judging by Ducati’s first-quarter sales.
According to Ducati’s PR, it sold 14,725 to customers in 2023’s first three months. That’s a 9 percent increase over the same time period in 2022, and that was itself a record for Ducati. Things are definitely looking up for the Italian manufacturer!
Of that number of bikes, Italy got the largest piece of the pie (2,717 bikes delivered), followed by Germany and then the US. And, the most popular bike Ducati sold at the start of the year? The Multistrada V4 series. Maybe that’s a surprise, seeing that Ducati’s racing department has just come off its strongest season in many years, taking the World Superbike and MotoGP crowns, but adventure bikes are definitely top of the sales heap for the European manufacturers these days! In this case, the DesertX was Ducati’s third-best selling series as well (the Monster was the second-best seller, which is no surprise, as it has always been a massively popular machine for Ducati).
Presumably, this success will set up another big total sales year for Ducati, which set a new record in 2022—more than a billion euros in revenue for the first time in its history, and deliveries of 61,562 to customers.
The growth continues, as Ducati says it plans to open 55 new dealerships this year, adding to the current list of more than 800. Is the stereotype of shaky financing behind Italian motorcycle manufacturing a thing of the past? Perhaps—as it turns out, all they had to do was start shifting large parts of their production overseas…
