Not directly relevant but, Polaris who owned Indian and Victory motorcycles are now winding up Victory motorcycles
<Simpsons Newsreader voice/on> and I for one welcome our new beardy overlords...<SNv/off> Ducati aftershave anyone? has anyone tried to put an Evo engine in Monster...
Fuck off Harley you fat baldy, beardy twats with your chaps and tassells. Fuck right off. And take that crap Hamster music with you and all the other chrome pike nut shit anall. Ye Koonts.
http://thekneeslider.com/desmoharley-a-real-ducati-harley-davidson-merger/ suddenly this seems prescient...
Bloody hell you're joking ain't you, the quality of the fittings on my multi are crap and the cost of accessories are verging on the ridiculous!
If Harley buy Ducati I doubt the factory, the way its run and motorcycle range will change much. Other take overs havent affected things much, and have generally improved the company, Cagiva, TPG and VW all brought money and growth. The problem as I see it, is that from what Ive heard Harley are skint, investing in future models and the race programme possibly might suffer. As said earlier they killed Buell and nearly MV.
Quoting from the above link ... The contenders: BAJAJ vs Harley Davidson "The betting man looking at the two official contenders would surely back Bajaj. It’s the second largest Indian motorcycle manufacturer and the largest worldwide for the three-wheeler famously produced by Piaggio by licensing Vespa and Ape for the Asian market. Now it’s the main KTM shareholder, with 48% of KTM AG with the majority of the 203,424 sold in 2016 (KTM + Husqvarna) being produced in India. Bajaj is the perfect player to push the Scrambler and Ducati sports lineup across the Asia Pacific market. In the other corner, the Harley-Davidson merger and acquisition history isn’t such a happy one. Starting back 1960, H-D bought Aermacchi, the motorcycle division of an army aircraft company located in Varese, Italy. The new HD-Aermacchi company continued until 1978 through highs and lows, before being sold to Castiglioni family (current owners of MV Agusta). Harley-Davidson got back into the sports bike market with Eric Buell, which arguably worked, especially with brand awareness. Sometimes history returns (often to haunt), and in 2007 the Milwaukee firm returned to Schiranna to snap up MV Agusta. Just the time to paid debts and invest in the three cylinder lineup that exploded the worst financial crisis in modern history. The key event of course was the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of the credit crunch which signalled a real disaster for motorcycle market, and H-D who, in September 2009 spread an official statement to discontinue Buell and to sell MV Agusta. Both were loss-making companies while Ducati remained profitable and its range of models fitted alongside HD’s iconic cruiser range. The failure of German investment in Italy .... Starting with BMW is interesting to understand why the top three premium German brands - excluding Porsche - have failed with their Italian investments. Each has a rich and historic history in the automotive industry and while Italians hold a strong respect for German manufacturing but don’t love them, it’s the Germans who love Italian goods but have no respect for Italian habits: BMW sold Husqvarna to KTM after 5 years of investment spent to transform a classic off-road brand in a sporty version of its twin in-line. The Cassinetta di Biandronno plant is now home to the new SWM company. Mercedes - AMG is still part of MV Agusta with a 25% share but the relationship broke down last year after just one year together having shared sales, communication and image ideas, there was even a rumour of a special and rather powerful Smart car using MV Agusta’s three-cylinder power plant. Now, MV Agusta’s new sugar daddy is Russian investment company, Ocean Black. Most recently is Volkswagen. Opposite from the other examples though with Audi’s divisional management having reached strong result in both sales and a brand relationship. They’ve hired 100 employees and invested €160 million in the Borgo Panigale headquarters. Last year the company even gave a €2,500 bonus for each worker. It’s hard to imagine that will still happen with Ducati's next owners."
