Sindhu Bhattacharya

New Delhi: Harley Davidson may still be thinking about an India entry, but Ducati Motor Holding has already taken the plunge.

The Italian superbike maker, which makes famous racing-inspired icons such as the Monster696, Desmosedici RR and SportClassic, has signed on New Delhi-based Precision Motor India, which distributes Porsche and Fendi products, as its exclusive importer for India.

The fast and furious screamers, however, don’t come cheap: the lowend model sports a price tag of Rs 15 lakh and the high-end one Rs 50 lakh.

The price becomes more stratospheric because of 114% import duty on completely built units.

In the world of motorbikes, Ducati is a niche player, producing only 40,000 bikes a year at its Italian plant.

One-fourth of these stay in Italy. Americans buy a similar number. The rest 20,000 gets sold in 69 countries.

Ducati chief executive Gabriele Del Torchio said the company has a firstyear sales target of just 50 bikes in India.

“But I don’t see why rapid growth will not happen. We are already selling in Brazil and Russia and China will be our next stop. The emerging markets —- actually India is no longer an emerging market —- hold good potential for us,” says Torchio.

Ducati rejoined Grand Prix motorcycle racing in 2003 after a gap of over 30 years and on September 23, 2007, Casey Stoner won the first Grand Prix World Championship for the company, outriding Japanese giants such as Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha.

The company plans to increase production by 10% every year for the next three years. By 2011, 55,000 bikes will roll out.

The company boasts of building a Ducati culture and not just motorbikes. From creating ‘Ducatistis’,which is what Ducati owners are affectionately called, to organising bike clubs, shows, racing events and special annual get-togethers in Italy for Ducati owners worldwide, it’s an ecosystem that the Italian auto firm builds.

Stagnating sales are forcing many automakers to look to the developing markets such as India. In 2006-07, Ducati posted €400 million revenues but only recently did it return to black after making losses for years.

Ducati is in the process of homologating the Monster 696. But other models can be imported directly since bikes over 800 cc are exempt from the process. Homologation is the process whereby the government certifies that the vehicles conform to its regulatory standards.

Source : DNA