Ducati Quits Bike Business To Build Engines For Cagiva

Ducati quits bike business to build engines for Cagiva

ROUNDUP

After 33 years, the Ducati motorcycle marque is no more. But the engines live. In June, Mario Brighigna,

president of the government-owned Italian manufacturer, announced that Ducati had abandoned production of complete motorcycles. Instead, he said, Ducati had agreed to produce engines for a new line of Cagiva street bikes.

The production agreement between the two companies calls for Ducati to produce at least 6000 engines for Cagiva during 1984. Production will increase to 10,000 engines in 1985, and to 14,000 engines in 1986, remaining at that level until the seven-year, renewable agreement expires in 1991. Displacement of the Cagiva-bound Ducati engines will range between 350 lOOOcc.

At the time the announcement was made, Ducati was producing about 5000 motorcycles a year. The factory built only the engines; the other components came from outside contractors.

Brighigna said the decision to concentrate solely on engine production was necessitated by the rising costs and falling demand for Ducati motorcycles.

“Perhaps some could think that the news that Ducati will stop production of motorcycles is discouraging,” he said during a press conference in Milan, Italy, “but I would like to say that such an interpretation is wrong.” The profitable production of 14,000 engines a year, he went on to say, was more important than the unprofitable production of 5000 motorcycles a year.

While the marque will disappear, the Ducati name will not, Brighigna noted. “The trademark obviously will remain on the engines built for the Cagiva motorcycles,” he said. “The Ducati name will not disappear; it will just be more specialized.”

The addition of the Ducatipowered midto large displacement bikesy will make Cagiva the only nonJapanese manufacturer offering a complete line of motorcycles. Until now, the company had specialized in off-road and smalldisplacement (up to 350 cc) street bikes.

Under the terms of the agreement, the new Cagiva line-up will be sold through Ducati’s network of dealers.

Since Cagiva will assemble and market the motorcycles, Ducati will be free to develop a new generation of engines, Brighigna said. An oil-cooled engine, with oil circulating around the barrels and heads, is a certainty, he said. Possibilities include fuelinjected engines, the oftrumored V-Four, and a line of turbocharged or supercharged engines.

“This agreement has the basis to give new life, a new competitive edge and esteem to the glorious world Italian motorcycle industry,” Brighigna said.