I’ve heard this argument [Ducati Cup] a lot over the years and tend to agree in part, no one wants to see a grid full of Ducati bikes for obvious reasons. But the question I’ve got is, why don’t the other manufacturers build a bike that can be run as a satellite exactly the same as Ducati do? is it a financial thing? Perhaps but I can’t see how that can be true. Ducati charge fortunes for leasing their satellite bikes and technicians plus spares packages etc. The other manufactures could do the same. If you consider the global PTW (powered two wheelers) market utilising 2021 sales figures, Honda (as usual) should be able to place more bikes on the grid than anyone.Ok, they have 4 bikes just the same as KTM but surely they can afford to have many more. Why have more bikes? Well according to Ducati, it’s pretty simple, the more you have competing, the better source of data you have to then create the best bike capable of winning the championship. You then build that bike as the latest factory machine. So it’s a case of desire to win? Looks more like it to me. How can it be that the two smallest manufacturers (KTM and Ducati) on the grid have the most bikes competing? Look at the latest global PTW sales figures (found by a quick Google search):- Honda 20mil per annum Yamaha 4.5 mil per annum Suzuki 2 mil per annum KTM 330,000 per annum Piaggio, Vespa, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi 248,000 per annum Ducati 59,500 per annum It should be noted, these are total numbers of PTW (50cc upwards) not DRM (Ducati Relevant Market 600cc and above, road bikes) but still show the size and financial clout of the manufacturer. I’ll make my own assumption on this one, I would suggest that with the kind of mystique and brand Ducati have built around their brand over the last 20 years in particular, they know the importance of winning the MotoGP championship. Toppling manufacturers literally 10s and 100s of times larger than they are with respect to units sold, revenue and profit. I know from personal experience how much value they see in that happening. By rights, a manufacturer as small as Ducati, shouldn’t be able to touch the might that Honda have when it comes to bike racing. I guess that’s why the racing fans amongst us love them so much. Well, that’s the case for me anyway. Mart
There’s a final sentence missed off that screen shot. Basically, the interest from other parties has been reaffirmed in the last 24 hours. Typical Dorna, if you don’t want to play with our ball, f**k off because there are plenty of people who do Even if it’s just a rumour, it’s a PR disaster for Suzuki. Andy
Doesnt matter Andy, theyre still Audi/VW one of the largest automotive groups in the world. Thus they cannot be considered a small manufacturer.
Hard to see who may be interested to come into GP. Kawasaki are dominating WSBK, not sure they need to. BMW? The S1000RR was supposed to dominate WSBK and frankly its a bit mediocre in race trim. MV? Triumph?
Suzuki is the smallest team in the paddock amazingly. I’m sure they have their reasons, the costs involved in GP are eye watering! And Suzuki have a habit of stepping in and out of the sport.
I think regardless of whether they are forced to supply bikes next year to honour the contract, I imagine both riders are gone, no way would I sit in that team for another year knowing they have know intention to keep pushing and developing. Do you blame Suzuki though....? most of the prototype stuff on the bikes has helped road development, but stuff like wings and ride height devices have literally cost millions to develop and have no transferable use. I think Ducati are killing the championship tbh, and mostly down to GiGi, he's trying to build winning bikes, which is what he's there to do but in terms of the good of the sport, it's going the same way 250's did when he was the genius at Aprilia, basically if you wanted to be in the top 6 you HAD to be on a factory Aprilia RSW. BTW, Ducati ARE Audi, for anyone saying they aren't get out of here... I've had some dealings with VAG and how they manage their strategy, and the things that are happening in terms of model line up are 100% Audi... regardless of whether they are trying to sell them. Personally I think Ducati being sold by Audi would be a great thing right now.
Yep agreed. Ducati are VAG, that’s a matter of fact and record. From memory they’ve also got the biggest budget in the sport which is kinda embarrassing considering Suzuki came in and did what they did. HRC is also a pretty tiny team. A very serious one. But HRC themselves are not big. I would imagine that Suzuki exiting, is almost definitely due to cost.
Or cost over benefit. Possibly they feel that since they won in 2020, they have gained all the kudos they can without spending mega bucks increasing development.
Of course we all know that and I agree. But their budget, save for sponsorship comes from within, not from the group. This is why I mentioned the relevant market above. I am led to believe that all the entities within the group are stand alone and as such do not benefit in that way towards racing and events etc. No budget means no racing or events. If Ducati couldn’t put a case forward that demonstrate that bike racing sells product, then I can assure you, VAG would pull the plug in a heartbeat. Understandably production costs are reduced as certain resources and practices are shared resulting in further cost savings but it stops there. A long time ago I was involved with setting up a BMW dealer. Same rules applied according to BMW UK. The bike side didn’t benefit from the car side and as such had a far lesser budget to play with. Perhaps that’s why we don’t see them in GP’s?! I dunno. It’ll be the same with Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki. They’re absolutely huge companies, the bike element is only a very very small slice of a massive pie. I expect what’s happened in Suzuki is that a bean counter has come along and looked at investment vs return and put a red pen through the MotoGP exercise. Their small bikes around the globe won’t generate huge profits even considering their retail numbers. And if the rest of the globe is like the UK, then their large bike sales have really stalled in the last 10-15 years with a definite shortage of popular new designs that top the retails charts. Long gone are the heady days of K5’s selling like hot cakes. My point earlier is that even considering the larger parent company for each bike manufacturer in MotoGP, the stand alone bike sales element of each would suggest there should be more available budget for teams such as Suzuki. It’s like I said, bean counter! Ducati see and feel the need for racing in their DNA and how it results in sales. I bet that’s quite a hard thing to actually quantify in a profit and loss sheet!
If that were the case, Kawasaki would be selling shed loads of ZX10’s and they unfortunately don’t. But I think that’s more the nature of the market than a slight against the machine itself. I certainly didn’t ever feel a surge in sales after a win at the weekend. That being said, the potential punter does like to have what is perceived as a successful piece of kit under him when they buy it. But I don’t think that is the deciding factor, just a part of it. Looks, sound, tech, power and handling all come before racing pedigree for most folks in my experience.
I think 15-20yrs ago for sure, especially in the hay day of WSBK but not so sure now? Superbikes certainly don’t lead manufacturers sales sheets?
I would think Suzuki seeing that ICEs have no long-term future being a major part of their decision. Why invest R and D budget on something that has very little future return?
