Luxury pricing is one of the effective Con tricks ever devised. It has no relationship with intrinsic ‘value’ - it’s a psychological construct. This thing is expensive- therefore if you can buy it then you must be better than other people! Now don’t you feel good about yourself? Doesn’t owning this expensive thing fulfil you and make your life better? Every luxury brand ever devised is based on the same premise - and they are vastly, vastly profitable. ‘Rich people’ buy expensive things - the truly wealthy sell them…… Even if you are aware of the con - you aren’t immune to it - you can’t be - you live inside a society that has been shaped by it. Try explaining to your Fiancée that you do love and value her but spending 3 months wages on a worthless piece of rock isn’t the way to show it as it’s just a fake tradition made up by a Mining Cartel and an advertising agency to sell their abundant and relatively valueless product. If you have a few minutes to spare and have never read about it then this article uses material sourced from a book called ‘Have you ever tried to sell a Diamond’ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/ If you have hours to spare - this is the book https://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/prologue.htm Every time I see an item that’s vastly overpriced in relation to it’s intrinsic value I think of what De Beers have done with Diamonds. And truly wish I didn’t look at expensive Cars and Motorbikes and think - mmmmmm shiny - must have the precious………..
Without reading either for now (I will though), am I right in my recollection that DeBeers keep a good stack of the worlds diamonds in vaults as a means to keep the number available on the market low, and thus increase (inflate) the price?
Yes. That’s covered in there but that’s just a small element of how they have ‘regulated’ the world Diamond market. It’s an equally fascinating and horrifying story of global monopoly and control - the aspect that really scares me is the level of cultural manipulation they engaged in - so insidious in it’s nature. The following passage about ‘The Eternity Ring’ highlights just how easily society can be influenced. In accepting this arrangement, the Russians became partners in the cartel, and co- protectors of the diamond invention. De Beers then devised the "eternity ring," made up of hundreds of tiny Soviet-sized diamonds, which could be sold to an entirely new market of married women. The advertising campaign designed by N. W. Ayer was based on the theme of recaptured love. Again, sentiments were born out of necessity: American wives received a snake-like ring of miniature diamonds because of the needs of a South African corporation to accommodate the Communist Russia.
I'd be interested to know if Ducati UK marketing team read this, likewise if Ducati Italy read this. I wonder of they read the comments from the true Ducatisti and think crap we're alienating our core fans, the ones that actually make them their real profits not some tricket model for the wealthy?
I haven’t spent anything in a franchised dealership for a couple or years and have not intention of buying another new Ducati so I doubt they care. They’re not making any money off my 30+ year old bikes.
Perfume. Its like 99% markup for smelly water. Just wash you smelly bastard. I loathe women who cover themselves in this shite. Esp that that smells like fem fresh. You only need a dab missus, not enough to conceal your BO. I'm hoping they do. Ducati Corp couldnt give a shit. Because we still buy their tat. My 1299 is likely my last new Duck. My next will be an older one probably or a Yam. I'm fed up replacing fairing screws by the dozen. Cheese clutch covers that crack when torqued up correctly. Panel tangs that break if you breathe on them. Speedo screens that crack. Rear brake that go missing. Fairings that are a pig to take off and put back on. My 916 takes 5 effin minutes to take everything off ffs. Everything is locked up so you cant play with them. O rings that cost £10. Zorsts that need ducati dealer to switch on. Software updates you need to pay for. Handlebars that split. The list goes on. Everything they sell is poorly made and then hiked up to intimate exclusivity. Is it fuck exclusive. Its a mass market bike. Oh but were only making 50 or so, thats because theres only 50 people worldwide stupid enough out of the 7 billion or so to buy the damned thing. Just give us an achingly pretty bike for fucks sake and all will be forgiven or at least forgotten. The V4 is a fat germanic ugly bike imo. Give us a crazy italian beauty. Thats what we really want. A bike that makes no sense but is utterly utterly gorgeous. If it falls to bits, who cares?
Especially when it's only a modest increase in production costs. If they threw £10k of extras at the bike that's still one hell of an increase in margin.
Almost the same price as 2 V4SF SP's. Madness to pay for one, unless you are someone who buys into the notion that it is "special". As others have suggested, build a modern take on something genuinely special such as a Supermono or similar, adorn it with high-spec, quality mechanical parts, fixtures, fasteners etc. and dress it in understated, classical, elegant bodywork and you might attract more than just the elitist buyer demographic. Then it might even be worth paying for.
A Supermono would be amazing. Not as easy as slapping a load of bile paint and carbon at something though !
And that is where my money would go, if I was looking to purchase such a machine. Maybe a £5k premium for the exclusivity of the Lambo, but nearly twice the price of the SP is sheer lunacy.
It is not lunacy, it is corporate greed and it is a cynical and disrepectful representation of just what Ducati think of their customer. They think you can be easily ripped off and theyre probably correct.
That is the unfortunate reality, they'll all sell and then they'll get on with the next one. I'm with Bootsam on the V4, as technically astounding as it is I just haven't warmed to it since it's launch. And as the updates have been rolled out in metronomic fashion it just moves further away from something that gets my debit card quivering.... Wings for god sake, let's not even start on the V4SL. I'm sure it's a faster, easier bike to ride than a 1299, but the 1199/1299 was the last pretty SBK's they made in my eyes, maybe I'm not the target market now, I'm not part of the insta/tik tok generation.
Your only ripped off if you buy one I don’t really give a shit, I don’t like it but then never really warmed to the V4SF anyway, but more importantly I recognise the value of money and wouldn’t buy one on the principle of it being a glorified £25k paint job. If Ducati want to pamper to the very few then so be it. They will no doubt festoon “influencers” social feeds and #ducati will be trending the globe over and from that respect it’ll be job done? Marketing is no longer about promoting a quality product, “race on Sunday, sell on Monday”, it’s about Twatter, Instagump, TikTak and facepalm and those that make obscene amounts of money telling people what they need to buy to make them happy. It’s a crazy fucked up world.
