On another forum I found this interesting read on Ducati's sales and marketing from a US perspective. http://globalmoto.media/ducati.htm
simple but effective points copied below; Driving today's high-end sports cars aren't very challenging. Riding high-powered sportbikes is extremely challenging. You don't have to be in shape to drive. You certainly have to be in pretty good shape to ride a top sportbike outside of just posing and boulevard cruising. Driving modern cars with various electronic ride assists is quite easy. Riding top sportbikes requires years of experience and high skill set. Most buyers of expensive vehicles are older men who wouldn't be able to handle the ergonomics of a sportbike. Most sportbike fans in the US are young men who couldn't afford expensive bikes anyway. And there's you dilemma. Although sportbikes offer the biggest speed/power per dollar of any vehicle out there, but due to the above challenges they simply aren't as popular in the US, where the population is getting older and more overweight by the year (according to CDC 40% are now obese) and the moto market is shrinking. oh dear! Pete
that's what the Diavel is for isn't it? you build Pannigale RRRR(r)(R)s for profile. It's why retro bikes sell well too, people can feel they are reaching the limits on them
Hence why Triumph make so many retro bikes, it’s where the consumer is right now. Expect to see more lifestyle bikes launched by Ducati.
It's not always that, the country is vast and very few European companies can apply networks as we have here. An example, the ex bought herself a lovely Mercedes, her nearest Mercedes dealer was in Billings Montana some 265 miles away. Independent garages for European marques often seem to be on the outer edges of the country. For Ducati from the same address is 328 miles away. Faith is lucky as she has two close to her in Minneapolis but across the north states and in the central midwest they are few and far between. How many people can say my first service is due when I ride home then back to the dealer?
At over 100 miles each way I'm not that far from that. When I bought the Supersport in June I had to wait 6 weeks for the first service, leaving me about 60 miles a week to play on my new bike until the 1st service
Well, in some maths schools, that may not be "far off", but for those who actually went to class, its about a third...... Dime Bar !!!
It's a fecking long way when you have set off before 7 in the morning to get there and rains all the way
In 1980 when I bought my new Guzzi LeMans from the local main dealer, I found out the dealers had a really bad name and were crap at mostly anything including simple PDI..........I ended up getting first service and any warranty work done at Coburn & Hughes (main importers) in Luton. 140 mile round trip and over three hours - that was bad enough. After doing it twice I got C & H to agree to me carrying out services and any warranty repairs - they just provided the replacement parts.
Fit double width saddles for US market versions of Ducatis, to suit obese American buttocks. Problem solved.
Given the seat on my Harley is quite wide for my little bum, it isn't very comfortable really - I guess the US fat arses must cushion the bumps more than the seat and suspension.
