Team-BHP - Ducati sells over 53,000 motorcycles in 2019

If we dig deeper into the finer details, there is a lot more to this than what meets the eye. The good news is that Ducati had some exciting launches in recent years and also added 54 new dealerships in 20 countries. The bad news is that despite these two factors being in their favour, Ducati managed to sell a grand total of 179 bikes more than they did the previous year. That is a megre 0.33% growth YoY.

Now, as of Q3 2019, Ducati was getting 53% of their sales from western Europe. European markets have been growing YoY in 2019 at a fair pace - France (15.7%), Spain (11%), Italy (6.1%) and UK (1.5%). Unfortunately, Ducati is losing sales in Europe to both BMW and its Japanese rivals. Ducati sales were also down in Australia (less than half of what it was in 2015), USA (down 2%) and the Asean markets (down 4.6%).

The good news for Ducati sales comes from Brazil (double digit growth), Peru, Colombia and China. So Ducati is losing their traditional strongholds but growing in emerging markets.

More than what the news articles states about the sales figures, what I find more fascinating is what sales figures are not quoted by Ducati. The models listed in the news (Panigale family, Hypermotard, Diavel and Multistrada) are the more premium offerings from Ducati and together account for 28,065 units (52.77%) of their 2019 sales.

However, look at what bikes are missing from their list
- Scrambler
Their entry level bike and one launched with massive fanfare. Ducati did a good job with marketing this one. It is supposed to bring in massive volumes and be the entry way into the Ducati world. Positioning wise, think of it as the Alto into the Ducati world.
- Monster
Arguably the model with the most history and brand value. It is known as the bike that saved Ducati with over 3,00,000 units sold since 1993. Another motorcycle that should be bringing in good volumes for Ducati. Positioning wise, think of it as the Swift of the Ducati world.
- Supersport
The sensible sports tourer that sat below the aggressive Panigales in price but bridged the gap between the naked Ducatis and the faired ones. Yet another bike that was slated to have been a volume player for Ducati. Positioning wise, think of it as the Ritz of the Ducati world.
- XDiavel
A premium offering similar to the Diavel. Low volumes only.

Through simple subtraction it is easy to find that these volume bikes for Ducati together account for only a dismal 47.22% of their sales in 2019. That is like Maruti selling a majority of Balenos and Vitarra Brezzas with much less Altos and Wagon R cars. No wonder Ducati didnt share the actual figures for these supposedly high selling motorcycles in their press release.

So overall, Ducati is losing sales in its traditional markets, worldwide sales are stagnant and they are only selling their high end bikes. Trouble, trouble and more trouble in the long run for Ducati.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TusharK (Post 4731129)

According to the company, 8,304 Panigale superbikes were sold in 2019. It holds a market share of 25%.

Ducati adds up the Panigale 959 / V2, V4, V4S, V4R and any other iteration of the bike to arrive at this tall claim. This is like KTM adding sales of the RC 125, RC 200, RC 250 and RC 390 and then saying that the RC is the best selling A2 class sports bike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4731176)

Interesting - Multistrada is their bread and butter model.

Since we dont have the actual breakup of the sales figures of all their bikes, we cannot know this with 100% certainty. But by looking at a combined sales figure of 25,118 units for the Scrambler, Monster, Supersport and XDiavel, it certainly does look as though the Multistrada is their best selling bike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4731267)

Well, the numbers are not all that impressive when you put it into context though - for example, the worldwide sales of the rival R1200/1250 GS exceed that of Ducati itself, forget Multistrada alone - at 59,000 units.

BMW Motorrad sold 175,162 units during the year, of which only 20k units come from the 310s.

They arent impressive in isolation either! New models plus 54 new dealers in 2019 and sales grew by 0.33% only.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123 (Post 4731281)

You are comparing a niche Italian brand with a Big german brand which has the distribution strength of its 4W arm as well. Sort of like comparing Ferrari sales with Mercedes sales and claiming they arent impressive lol:

The correct compare would be to other standalone motorcycle niche brands - MV / Triumph and likes

To my knowledge, the BMW two wheeler division does not leverage the distribution platform of the cars division. Nonetheless, if we do compare the sales of Ducati with other, more 'exotic' companies, the picture isnt very rosy either. Fellow Italian marque Benelli grew by 5.44% to a total of over 63,000 units in 2019. The growth for Benelli comes from Asean, Latam and Western European markets (where they grew by 27.8%) which incidentally are some of the markets (except for Latam) where Ducati is losing sales. The Benelli TRK 502 platform seems to be a very strong performer sales wise.

I couldnt find 2019 sales figures for Triumph but the closest source reports that Triumph was on track to do 67,000 units in 2019. If true, that would be 25.98% more than Ducati in the same year.

Overall, it looks as though Ducati is only able to attract new buyers to their top end products but that is not a sustainable business model in the long run. Maybe Asian ownership can help revive the fortunes of this prestigious Italian marque?

Links to sources -
https://motorcyclesdata.com/2019/11/17/ducati/
https://www.visordown.com/news/indus...aler-expansion
https://www.visordown.com/news/indus...cle-sales-2019
https://www.visordown.com/news/indus...torcycles-2019
https://advrider.com/benelli-has-a-big-year/
https://motorcyclesdata.com/2019/12/...h-motorcycles/