Ducati throttles back

Luxury Automotive

Ducati, the Italian luxury motorcycle manufacturer, has cut production and senior executive salaries by 10% in a bid to ride out the global financial crisis.

The Ducati Monster 696

Gabriele Del Torchio, chief executive of Ducati, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the market for luxury bikes had probably shrunk by about 30 per cent this year.

The company had revenues of €470m in 2008 with an EBITDA of €76.5m but 2009 full year revenues are forecast to hit €400m – not bad in the current climate, particularly when the US and Italy account for half of all output and the US sales have been decimated by a 50% drop.

Due to the strength of the brand, a fanatical customer base, quality products and recent model launches Ducati has managed to raise its market share from about 5.5 per cent to roughly 7 per cent during the crisis – a testament to quality and consistent brand positioning if ever one were needed.

Together with our own (LuxuryMC) forecasts, Ducati do not predict a recovery until Q2 2010.