V4 After Market Exhaust Options.

Says in your profile, how are you getting on with the v4?

 

The V4 is epic. I love it.

 

Over here they make you sign a document stating you know that it's for off road use only. Harley got in trouble because they fitted the pipe at the factory. I had to sign the same form when I put the exhaust on the Diavel.

 

I see the Termi Uscite system has a license plate and indicators holder as an option, will we get away with it on UK roads?

 

http://www.termignoni.it/en/product/ducati_panigale_v4_complete_system_d18209400itx/ Says a road system “will be available” but not yet, only race system at the moment. Andy

 

Been told mine akrapovic should be here in next 2 weeks

 

I'm quite disheartened at how slow the bits are coming in from Ducati. I ordered some of the Ducati rizoma bits, and they are not in forseeable stock and so I cancelled them. Dealer said he's got no indication of much coming in. The bike has been out for months.

 

What Rizoma bits are you looking for ? Andy

 

I got a call from the dealer today saying the SP is on a boat which is a bit of a surprise. Didn't expect it that soon but time will tell, hope it shows up before we head off to the TT.

 

sport pack

 

Had to look that up as I hadn’t seen they’d put an accessories package together. I’ll be popping into work on Monday so will ask what the hold up is. Andy

 

Thanks Andy but not to worry mate, Metropolis order evotech stuff directly, so they put the tail-tidy and levers on from them. I don't really need the other bits so actually saved some money.

[mini rant] I only mentioned it as Mary said the Akras aren't here yet and Karl mentioned his 'should' be coming - as I've worked in brand marketing for over a decade, it bugs me that the bike industry, in general, tends to be so lacklusture. From buying to servicing, even the brands don't really bother. If I was the Global Brand Manager at HQ Bologna for them (as I have been for other companies) I wouldn't accept that 5 months after a product has gone to market, to not have the suite of backup/parts/details available. They started building this bike years ago and so should be up to date - it's not new news and it's not just Ducati as a brand, just bugs me as I had to do it for places I worked at. We pay a lot and yet other industries with lesser value products do it so much better.

 

Agreed.

Although i do get the feeling that with bikes such as the V4, and the astronomical pricing of accessories, that they probably run very lean manufacture and stock holdings.

Take the bikes as an example, some are taking an age to be delivered, as though they've scheduled production time on pre-books only and not left slack in the system for further orders. I get that, at least i would if they were a much smaller company as building bikes to sit in stock effectively costs more money. Ducati should really have the means to produce more than current requirement and in good time IMO

As with the accessories, normally brands would place a bulk order with a 3rd party supplier as they'd be issued with an MOQ, but maybe Ducati have been left holding high stocks of old accessories (probably due to them over pricing) so this time they've negotiated smaller MOQ's and thats why the pricing isn't as good for them, and why its getting passed straight on to you guys with the V4's

Ducati won't be losing out, they'll make the same margin (but more profit) as you guys will keep buying at the newer higher prices, but it also means Ducati aren't sitting on dead stocks so its win win for them.

The buggers

 

Can’t fault your arguement but I believe that both Ducati and their suppliers were caught flat footed by the uptake of the V4 and the accessories. It’s one thing to agree to manufacture 1500 Akrapovic “race” systems and then find, despite the cost, more people want them for their S than planned. Same with the Speciale wheels, uptake on the mag alloy option was a surprise and Marchesini can’t make them fast enough. Hopefully lessons will be learned. Andy

 

It seems the first buyers of the V4 are the ones with extra cash to spend and for the most part appear to be buying them mainly as track bikes.

The world has changed a lot in the last ten years since the financial crash and I know that companies, however large, are looking to minimise the value of the stock they hold as its effectively cash doing nothing but losing value. Stock is always valued at the lower of cost or net realisable value so will always effect annual results in a negative manner.

 

Totally. I understand the reasoning but I'm not a VAG shareholder and so their EBIDTA doesn't concern me.
What does concern me is 5 months post launch of a 20k bike, and the answer to 'can we buy xyz' is no, much like 100s of other people. It's an end can ffs, not brain surgery.

Same story with Porsche due to your exact valid point. We ordered a new Cayenne last November and because so many people ordered the Sport Design kit (as for the first time in a long time it genuinely was a massive improvement to the standard kit), Porsche can't fulfil orders. Emailed me last month and have now cancelled it as a 2018 option - so my car will come without it. It's terrible customer service and a firstworldproblem I know, but it stinks. Anyway, sorry for the digress.

 

I don't think you will find any other big multinationals are any different.

Society has become intolerant to waiting and expects everything now and as cheap as possible, one of the worst things the USA has ever done to the world (and that is saying something).

There really are worse things in the world to get angry about.