Ducati sales slip in the shadow of COVID-19 despite record six months

Ducati became one of the first big brands to announce its annual sales figures in the wake of the global COVID-19 crisis that hit the industry hard during a trying 2020 period, revealing a drop of -9.7% compared with 2019.

Though there have been tales of strong recovery in the motorcycle industry as two-wheelers emerged as one of the key front line and self-isolating modes of transport in the midst of coronavirus, brands at the premium end of the market that don’t offer low displacement models were always expected to post more sizeable drops.

Moreover, with Italy being the first nation outside of China to be hit particularly hard by the crisis before it spread rapidly around the world, Ducati has been playing catch up since March.

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However, it has been buoyed by a best-ever latter half six month period, which went a long way to softening the blow of the lockdown measures, allowing it to register 48,042 sales as a total, down -9.7% on 2019. Despite the rippling effect of COVID-19, there were reasons to be positive with the new Streetfighter V4 proving attractive with 5,490 sales globally of the premium hypernaked.

Key takeaways from Ducati’s figures include the +26% growth in China year on year, plus gains in Germany despite the onset of coronavirus in both nations. Ducati’s home market of Italy remains its largest globally with just over 7,000 units sold.

Ducati’s best-selling model remains the Scrambler, in part due to its numerous trim levels, while the firm also celebrated title-winning success in the MotoGP Manufacturers’ standings, plus the runners-up spot in WorldSBK with Scott Redding.

"2020 was a complex year in many ways and a whole new challenge for everyone in the world,” Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO, said.

“Inevitably, it ended in a different way than we would have liked, but Ducati was able to make the most of the recovery trend of the two-wheel market that began in June, achieving an excellent second half of the year with a result that was better than we had expected back in March. 

“By redefining working methods and processes we managed to maintain the safety of our employees, to stay close to the fans and to consolidate the Ducati brand in the world by growing in some markets such as China. 

“We also won the Constructors' World Title in MotoGP for the second time in our history.”