Harley in talks to purchase Ducati

[aviationfred]

I have seen a few articles about this.

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/06/22/report-harley-davidson-in-talks-to-buy-ducati.html


Fred

[FJmonkey]

I doubt the Italians will allow any American (or other) entity to own Ducati, Ferrari, etc... They are quite proud of their elite brands and deserve it. I work with Italian partners and they make a really good product. They put function and form in to very appealing proportions.

[Pat Conlon]

I agree Mark. National pride has merit. Look at what happened in the mid sixtys when FoMoCo tried to buy into Ferrari. Enzo backed out.

Seeing how Harley treated Eric Buell should give Ducati pause.

I suspect Harley sees the writing on the wall so they are looking for fresh technology.
The days of getting by with a basic engine design 100 years old, are numbered.

[bikemad]

The biggest selling LAMS(entry level) bike in Australia is the 500cc Harley!
It's made in India but it appears that as long as it has that badge(decal probably) on the tank people are happy
to buy it.
We have all been wondering when the "bubble" will burst for Harley but there marketing dept. must be the best
on the planet!! 

[FJ1100mjk]

I doubt the Italians will allow any American (or other) entity to own Ducati, Ferrari, etc...

Uh, really?  Look & See

[oldktmdude]

I doubt the Italians will allow any American (or other) entity to own Ducati, Ferrari, etc...

Uh, really?  Look & See

I was under the impression that Audi owns Ducati. Audi is a German company isn't it?

[Charlie-brm]

I doubt the Italians will allow any American (or other) entity to own Ducati, Ferrari, etc...

Uh, really?  Look & See

You saved me looking it up. Less than two years later, H-D was paying the Italian partners to take it back. Being marketing geniuses doesn't make one an investment guru I suppose.

As for Ducati, it has been owned by Americans before (Texas Pacific Group). If a company has shareholders, it's all about the money.
Ferrari trades on the NYSE and in Milan.

The only person I know personally that lives in northern Italy and has a successful contracting business is done being a good Italian and buying Ducati after Ducati. He is so pissed at the lack of customer service and appreciation after so many bikes giving him problems, he swears his next bike will be a Suzuki.

[FJmonkey]

Money talks, cash is king. 

[spsmith_fj1200]

It would be one way to possibly make this true

https://rideapart.com/articles/harley-davidson-plans-build-50-new-models

But given the track record with MV Agusta and Buell, if I owned Harley stock I would be screaming NO.

[PaulG]

Uh, really?  Look & See

Sheesh, I don't remember hearing anything about that. Wonder where I was.    MV has been a money pit since it began way back when.  Isn't their bread & butter in tractors or aviation? Or aviated tractors? Anyhow it would have made sense for HD if they had cash to burn. Use each other's dealer network to cross market to upscale buyers.   But then again I haven't seen any HD dealers selling MVs lately.  Nor have I seen any MVs on the road.

As far as that DucHarley  THING  pictured. An abomination I say!     Good photoshop rendering though.

Most of these corporate "mergers/buyouts" are strictly raiding parties to legally steal the technology. The car industry is rife with it.  (e.g. Ford & Volvo) It's cheaper to buy a smaller competitor with leading edge technology, then co-opt it into your brand, then maybe sell off that subsidiary once you've bled it dry of anything you need.  Will save you hundreds of millions in R&D (probably tens of millions in HDs case).

Who knows? Maybe there's a belt driven desmo head in HDs future?