Cheaper, Less Powerful 2025 Ducati Panigale V2 to Replace SuperSport

At first glance, the 2025 Ducati Panigale V2 looks a little problematic in the current range of the Italian brand. It now has a more relaxed riding position, like a SuperSport 950, a bike which has a similar price and power output. If you’re thinking there’s no room for both in the line-up, you’d be right - it turns out the new bike doesn’t just replace the old Pani V2, but also the SuperSport 950 and 950 S (below).

“This bike will be instead of the SuperSport,” strategy and Centro Stile Director Andrea Ferraresi told Visordown shortly after the Panigale V2’s reveal at EICMA in Milan, adding, “It’s a replacement for two bikes”. The SuperSport 950 is still on sale as we write, but not for long - at the end of the year it’ll bow out.

As to why Ducati has softened the Panigale V2, it’s all about creating a more usable machine in response to customer feedback. “Every Ducati must be super performing on the race track, especially if you talk about the Panigale,” Ferraresi said, adding, “But we want it also to give the possibility to our client to enjoy a Saturday afternoon on [a] normal road without feeling the pain or the extreme ergonomics of a modern, big displacement sports bike.”

A lower power figure but with a wealth of lower-down torque is also part of that, with the new bike making 70 per cent of its peak twist figure (which isn’t all that far behind the old bike’s) at just 3,000rpm. The new engine isn’t only here because Ducati wanted something more friendly for road riding, though, with Ferraresi confirming that it would have been very difficult to make the now-dead Superquadro engine Euro5+ emissions compliant.

Whether the changes will lead to the Panigale V2 and closely related Streetfighter V2 becoming more popular, we’ll have to wait and see. But with the general trend being towards more road-biased sports bikes, we wouldn’t be surprised.