Ticking virtually all the right boxes for its Volkswagen Group parent, Ducati performed exceptionally in the first three months of 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
Quarterly revenue for the Bologna-based but Wolfsburg-owned brand climbed remorselessly by 40.3% to £282.6m. Higher sales volumes, a better model mix and after-sales growth took the credit. Operating profit went stratospheric, boasting a 134.2% increase to £50.8m. Operating margin leapt from 10.7% to 17.8%.
Underlying that success were total production figures 8.2% up to 17,043 and global retail deliveries to customers rising by 9.1% to 14,725.
The Naked/Sport Cruiser segment spanning Diavel, Monster and Streetfighter models shipped 22.5% more machines to dealers, a 6600 headcount, with retail 15.5% higher at 5010. Monsters topped that particular slot with 2005 bikes sold to hoi polloi Ducatisti.
Dual/Hyper, armed with Hypermotard, Desert X and Multistrada products, lifted wholesale by 28.4% to 5982 and retail 30.2% up to 5822. The best-selling Multistrada V4 adventure range led that charge, thanks to 2688 of them rolling out of showrooms. Some 1442 examples of the Desert X reaching customers were also worthy of an honourable mention.
Sports production, covering supersport and Panigale superbike machinery, also increased substantially, by 35.3% to 3691. But retail sales flatlined, 0.8% down to 2729. Really poor numbers came from Ducati’s Scrambler sub-brand, though, where wholesale output plunged by 74.2% to just 770, and retail was 39.8% lower on 1164. Specific component shortages may have been responsible for that.
European markets accounted for 61% of all retail transactions, improving from 57% in the same period last year. Italian domestic sales were strongest, 7% up to 2717 bikes. Germany put on 21% to 1666. The US market, Ducati’s second-largest export target, also added 21% to 1677, increasing its global share to slightly more than a tenth.
Ducati is now represented in more than 90 countries via a sales network currently stretching to in excess of 800 dealers. And the company says it intends to add 55 new outlets during 2023. Among these already unveiled in the first quarter is an inaugural Audi-Ducati retail integration dealership in Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, which may prove to be an ominous sign of the times.
€-£ currency translation at forex rates applicable on 5 May.