In order to manufacture vacuum tubes, condensers, and other radio components, Antonio Cavalieri Ducati and his three sons Adriano, Marcello, and Bruno Cavalieri Ducati created Societ Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati in Bologna in 1926. They had achieved enough success by 1935 to make it possible to build a new facility in the city’s Borgo Panigale neighborhood. The Ducati factory was repeatedly bombed by the Allies, yet production continued throughout World War II.
Initially producing the “Cucciolo,” an engine for mounting on bicycles, for a small Turin company called SIATA (Societa Italiana per Applicazioni Tecniche Auto-Aviatorie), the company began producing motorcycle-related products in 1950. They eventually sold a product based on the Cucciolo. When the market began to favor larger motorcycles in the ensuing years, the business expanded their product line.
In recognition of the company’s divergent motorcycle and electronics product lines, management divided the business into two distinct businesses in 1953: Ducati Meccanica SpA and Ducati Elettronica. In the 1980s, Ducati Elettronica changed its name to Ducati Energia SpA. Ducati Meccanica SpA was led by Dr. Giuseppe Montano, and with government funding, the factory in Borgo Panigale was upgraded. Production at Ducati Meccanica SpA had climbed to 120 bikes per day by 1954.
In the 1960s, Ducati created the Mach 1, the fastest 250cc road bike on the market at the time, cementing its place in motorcycle history.
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[5]
[6] Cagiva acquired Ducati in 1985 with the intention of rebranding Ducati bikes under the “Cagiva” moniker. When the deal was finalized, Cagiva continued to call its motorcycles “Ducati.” Eleven years later, in 1996, Cagiva accepted Texas Pacific Group’s bid and sold a 51 percent stake in the business for US$325 million. Texas Pacific Group then purchased the majority of the remaining 49 percent in 1998 to acquire ownership of Ducati as a whole. In 1999, TPG changed the company’s name to “Ducati Motor Holding SpA” and launched an initial public offering of Ducati stock. TPG became the main shareholder in Ducati after selling more than 65% of its stock in the company. With the sale of Texas Pacific’s shareholding (minus one share) to Investindustrial Holdings, the investment company run by Carlo and Andrea Bonomi, Ducati was once again owned by Italians in December 2005.
The Audi division of the Volkswagen Group announced its plan to purchase Ducati for 860 million euros ($1.2 billion) in April 2012. Ferdinand Pich, the chairman of Volkswagen and a motorcycle enthusiast, had long wanted Ducati and regretted having missed the chance to acquire the business from the Italian government in 1984. Analysts questioned whether a small motorcycle manufacturer could have a significant impact on a business the size of Volkswagen, saying the acquisition had “a trophy feel to it” and was motivated more by VW’s love of brand names than by business or financial considerations. Under VW ownership, the Italian luxury automobile manufacturer Lamborghini gained strength. [7] [8] On July 19, 2012, Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., a division of AUDI AG, paid 747 million euros ($909 million) to acquire all of the shares of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. [1]
In This Article...
Audi purchased Ducati when?
Since 2012, Audi has acquired Ducati, however due to organizational changes at VW, the brand is no longer regarded as strategically significant for the Volkswagen Automotive Group. The change of heart also doesn’t imply that Audi will retain Ducati in the long run; the illustrious motorcycle manufacturer has no shortage of prospective buyers.
When did VW purchase Ducati?
The Volkswagen Group reportedly considered selling Italian motorbike manufacturer Ducati earlier this year to deal with the growing expenses of its diesel-emissions cheating crisis. Evidently, Harley-Davidson desired to acquire the business. In spite of all, Bloomberg claims that VW will not sell its motorcycle division.
Claudio Domenicali, the CEO of Ducati, reportedly informed staff members on Friday that VW had blocked the company’s sale, according to union president Bruno Papignani. In an interview with Bloomberg, Papignani stated that the Italian metallurgical workers’ union, FIOM CIGL, which represents Ducati employees, was opposed to the sale of the business. The FIOM CIGL collaborated with IG Metall, a formidable German rival, to fight the sale of Ducati.
In 2012, Ducati was purchased by the VW Group through Audi for 835 million euros ($981 million USD). Given that the motorbike manufacturer is a “non-essential” component of the VW Group’s business, it was considered a prospective selling option. Under the direction of VW and Audi, Ducati has achieved success, although there is very little overlap with VW’s other brands.
According to Bloomberg, the failure to sell Ducati could be a blow for Audi because months of work have gone in vain. This announcement also came shortly after Volkswagen disclosed a shocking $3 billion charge for its buyback of US-based diesel vehicles that had been found to evade emissions tests.
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Who is the inventor of the Ducati?
The Brothers Ducati Adriano, Bruno, and Marcello Ducati, along with their father Antonio, founded the Societ Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati in Bologna, Italy. Adriano’s experiments with advancing radio technology led to the company’s founding as a producer of radio components.
Does Audi produce Ducati?
The Italian conglomerate is the subject of this essay. See Ducati for a list of businesses (disambiguation).
The headquarters of the Ducati group of enterprises are in Borgo Panigale, Bologna, Italy, and they are best known for producing bikes. Through its Italian affiliate Lamborghini, which is in turn owned by the Volkswagen Group, German automaker Audi owns the group. [1]
Currently, the group consists of four businesses:
- Previously known as Ducati Meccanica, the motorcycle-manufacturing division Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A.
- Ducati Motor Holding owns 100% of Ducati Corse, which manages the Ducati motorcycle racing program.
- Formerly known as Ducati Elettronica, Ducati Energia is a designer and producer of electrical and electronic systems.
- Providing electronic and information technology products for uses in road transport, railroad transport, and transport automation is Ducati Sistemi, a division of Ducati Energia.
Ducati produced electrical goods such razors, cameras, and radios throughout the 1930s and 1940s. During World War II, Ducati also produced a marine binocular known as the BIMAR for the Kriegsmarine, some of which were later offered on the civilian market. [2] A collector’s item today, the Ducati Sogno was a half-frame Leica-like camera. A new brand of racing bicycles has been created and introduced by Ducati and Bianchi. [3]
Ducati Energia’s electrical parts and systems are frequently used by Ducati Motor Holding.
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Who is the owner of Audi?
Who owns Audi, one of the top German automakers still today? The Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi has continued to make high-end automobiles that dazzle with their opulent features and superb performance while staying faithful to its German heritage.
Are Ducati and Harley Davidson related?
According to individuals with knowledge of the situation, Evercore has sent information packages to a number of prospective suitors, including Investindustrial, which formerly owned Ducati.
Prior to the financial crisis, Investindustrial acquired a share in Ducati, took control of the company, and then sold it to Audi in 2012.
In an effort to reclaim control, it is now attempting to compete with powerful private equity companies and other industry players.
Bain Capital, KKR, Volkswagen, Audi, Harley-Davidson, and Harley-Davidson declined to comment. Permira, Investindustrial, and Bajaj were unavailable right away.
The biggest automaker in Europe, Volkswagen, is attempting to move past the emissions-cheating scandal that has damaged its reputation and exposed it to billions of euros in penalties and settlements.
A successful acquisition of Ducati, which generated 593 million euros in revenue last year, would demonstrate to Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller his commitment to reversing his predecessor’s ambition for expansion.
When Volkswagen said in June of last year that it would assess its portfolio of brands and assets, analysts once again began to speculate that “non-core businesses could be put up for sale.”
According to the sources, Volkswagen values Ducati at 1415 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which total around 100 million euros, in order to collect between 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion euros from the sale of the motorcycle.
The German automaker requests a valuation that takes into account the trading multiples of comparable trophy assets in the automotive sector, such as Ferrari RACE.MI, an Italian automaker that is currently trading at roughly 30 times its projected earnings.
However, given that some of the bidders might find it difficult to spend up to 1.5 billion euros on Ducati, it might need to make a price concession.
For several industry participants who just decided against bidding, price expectations have already proven difficult.
Hero MotoCorp HROM.NS, an Indian manufacturer of motorcycles, and TVS Motor Company TVSM, a rival.
NS first indicated interest in Ducati but later opted against it because to the price, according to the sources.
BMW’s lack of interest in Ducati was verified by a spokeswoman; Hero and TVS were not immediately available for comment.
Another source close to Volkswagen stated that due to Volkswagen’s desire to identify the ideal buyer and the potential length of the sales process, the sale of Ducati might not be completed before the annual EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in mid-November.
Additional reporting was done in Frankfurt by Arno Schuetze, Berlin by Andreas Cremer, Tokyo by Naomi Tajitsu, New Delhi by Aditi Shah, and Hong Kong by Kane Wu; editing was done by Adrian Croft and Edmund Blair.
Has KTM acquired Ducati?
Six years have passed since the Volkswagen Group paid about $840 million to acquire the storied Italian motorcycle company Ducati. In the 92-year history of Ducati, those were some of the company’s best years. The company has developed its Multistrada range, launched the massively popular Scrambler sub-brand, and unveiled the Panigale V4, one of the most extreme production motorcycles ever created.
It appears like a strange pairing at first glance. The off-road bikes made by KTM, a relatively small motorcycle manufacturer, are the company’s specialty. Since the early 1990s, Pierer has been employed by KTM. Although his tenure as CEO of the Austrian business has been successful, it is extremely ambitious for him to want KTM to become the third-largest sports motorbike manufacturer in the world, as he notes in his Speedweek interview. However, purchasing a Ducati might significantly advance him toward that objective.
With the V-twin-powered RC8 and the single-cylinder RC390, KTM has already dabbled in producing hard-core sporting motorcycles. The company’s adventure bikes and naked bikes, notably the Super Duke R, have seen tremendous popularity.
Is Volkswagen still the owner of Ducati?
The sale of Ducati by Volkswagen AG has been halted by persistent opposition from labor organizations, a union representative told Bloomberg.
According to Bruno Papignani, regional president of the FIOM CIGL union, “Ducati’s CEO informed workers that the VW supervisory board chose to postpone the selling process. IG Metall supported and assisted Ducati employees in their demand to stay within the VW group, which should continue investing in our business.
In June of this year, there were rumors circulating that Harley-Davidson was preparing a bid to acquire Ducati after appointing Goldman Sachs to handle the transaction. August of this year saw a Reuters report asserting that the supervisory board of Volkswagen, which is composed equally of corporate management and labor representatives, found no need to sell.
According to a spokeswoman for the VW group’s works council, who spoke to Reuters in August, “the employee representatives on Volkswagen’s supervisory board will neither authorize a sale of Ducati, nor one of Renk or MAN Diesel & Turbo.”
We don’t need money, and our subsidiaries are not for sale to bargain hunters, as everyone who can read the VW half-year results should be aware of. The Porsche and Piech dynasties, who own a controlling 52 percent voting share in Volkswagen, were also opposed to the prospective sale.
After Volkswagen acknowledged it had cheated on emissions testing on as many as 11 million diesel vehicles globally, speculation over Ducati’s future under Volkswagen has been rampant for more than a year.
Baja, Eicher Motors, Hero Motorcorp, and Harley-Davidson are additionally said to be interested in Ducati.
In 2012, Audi paid the Italian equity group InvestIndustrial $962 million (726 million) to acquire Ducati. Ducati sold 55,451 units for 593 million (530 million) in 2016, which is a 1.2 percent increase in sales.
According to insiders at the ailing automaker, if it needs the money to repay a 14.45 billion loan taken out to aid with finances in the escalating pollution crisis, the firm is willing to sell off portions of itself.
VW Group sources reportedly told Reuters that the company would be willing to sell off portions of the business if necessary, but it is believed that selling Ducati would raise so little money relative to the tens of billions required to address the emissions crisis that this is not immediately likely.
Selling off a portion of the business may include Ducati, which the VW Group and Audi, the main parent company, purchased in 2012 for $708 million and heavily invested in as an Italian bike manufacturer. Even though Ducati’s financial situation has improved since it was bought in 2012, the company is probably only worth $1 billion.
Selling off some of the components of other divisions of the enormous, sprawling firm would seem to be the more likely course of action for VW Group.
The non-truck components of VW’s MAN (MANG.DE) subsidiary are anticipated to be at the top of the list of potential divestitures, according to the persons quoted in the Reuters article: “Listings of divisions such as Audi, Porsche, or its truck businesswhich is being carved out nowseem improbable.
According to the people, a hypothetical transaction might value the MAN power engineering activities, which produce goods including ship engines, micro power plants, special gear units, propulsion components, and testing systems, at 4-5 billion euros.
More than a quarter of MAN’s 9.98 billion in sales and the entire 101 million euro operating group profit for the first nine months of the year came from this segment.
Volkswagen may also take into account selling off its luxury vehicle brands Bentley and Lamborghini as well as its Ducati motorcycle division, but these products don’t really make a difference, according to one of the people.
Claudio Domenicali, the CEO of Ducati, has formally refuted claims that the company’s funding may dry up as a result of parent company VW Group being forced to bear a heavy financial weight as it works to recover from the emissions crisis.
The ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, in which the corporation was exposed by American authorities for purposefully programming cars to pass emissions tests, is still having an impact on the Volkswagen Group. In order to attempt and somewhat offset the substantial fines that will be imposed by America, the costs to recall and fix the affected cars, and the decline in share value in VW Group, the outcome has been a significant internal probe, the dismissal of many top managers, and cost-cutting measures.
Due to Ferdinand Piech, the former CEO of VW Group, love of motorbikes and specifically Ducati, Ducati was purchased by VW Group in 2012. Due to the emissions issue, he has since resigned from his position as business CEO.
Audi, merely one division of the company that also owns Volkswagen Passenger Cars, SEAT, KODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania, and MAN trucks, directly owns Ducati. One of the biggest automobile firms in the world.
“This situation has caused a significant amount of conversation and rethinking for all of us, but Ducati is still independent of central funding, and we are the sole two-wheeled element of the company,” Domenicali said in an interview with MCN.
“Ducati is making good money, therefore we don’t require assistance or funding from the VW Group. Nothing that has happened recently will alter our five-year strategy for new models. Fans of Ducati can unwind.
“Even if we are a member of the VW Group, of course, we continue to be financially independent. We have a thorough plan in place for the development of new bikes, and the recent events won’t change that.
There have been some claims that the Scrambler is a bike that brings in less money for us, but this is untrue. We still generate a fair profit on each bike even if the selling price is lower because the cost to produce the bike is significantly cheaper.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ducati declined to be drawn on the subject and expressed less certainty over the VW Group’s intention to sell off Ducati. But the VW Group is enormous, selling the thriving Italian brand might free up almost $1 billion (they paid $708 million in 2012), which could be seen as an alluring cash infusion at this time, although it is not believed that this is immediately likely.
Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, has refuted rumors that it may acquire Ducati and has rejected any interest in Suzuki Motor.
Suzuki and Ducati won’t be included in the company’s plans to increase its portfolio of brands from 10 to 12, according to VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, quelling long-running rumors that the Italian company will be absorbed into the VW empire.
In an interview with his cousin Wolfgang Porsche, head of the Porsche supervisory board, Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen, stated that he is still interested in purchasing a motorbike maker for the German magazine Stern.
“I still desire a modest, worthwhile motorbike manufacturer. He told the publication. Piech added that he still regrets passing up the chance to purchase Ducati in 1985, when the company was in financial distress and could have been purchased for a very low price.
Eventually, Cagiva acquired Ducati in 1985 with the intention of rebranding them as Cagiva, but the Ducati name was retained. The 71-year-old Piech declared, “I ride a Ducati. 180 horsepower and 1,001 bhp more power per kilogram than a Bugatti.
If Piech is considering purchasing Ducati, then perhaps we can anticipate seeing Ducatis soon with all the customary Italian flair and a dash of German elegance.