Sexy Beast
Photo by Nigel Cox
Ducati was always the Ferrari of sport bikes, a sexy beast whose muscle and sticker price made onlookers' jaws drop. But after nearly a decade of American mismanagement, the Italian specialty shop still has some catching up to do.
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Brand Building
Ducati staffers at the factory in Bologna in 1939, a decade before the company sold its first motorcycle. The company was founded in 1926, and the facade of the factory, on Bologna's Via Cavalieri Ducati, still has its original Art Deco lettering.
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Anno Spettacoloso
Casey Stoney (center) celebrates Ducati's victory in the MotoGP World Championship in Motegi, Japan, on September 23. The victory symbolized Ducati's improving fortunes following a decade of stagnant sales.
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Italian Beauty
A Desmosedici, one of only 1,500 built, on the factory line on November 15. Despite an astronomical base price of $72,500, the entire run is expected to sell out. Ducati increased its revenue in the first nine months of 2007 to $464 million, 44 percent higher than in the same period in 2006; operating profits soared more than 200 percent, to nearly $40 million.
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Star Power
Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast
Famous fans of Ducati include real estate magnet Sam Zell (who was denied a bid for a 50 percent stake in 1996). Customers who buy sport motorcycles care about peak performance, but an equally crucial selling point is a visual appeal that provokes envy.
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Full Raiment
Tom Cruise (in full raiment), on his Ducati. Ducati holds just 4 percent of the U.S. motorcycle market, selling fewer than 11,000 bikes in the States annually.
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No Hondas for Jim
Netscape founder Jim Clark. Ducati's upper-echelon, design-obsessed customers wouldn't dream of being seen on a mass-produced machine, even though Honda, which makes 300 times as many bikes as Ducati, gives plenty of bang for fewer bucks.
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A Way of Life
Photo by Jeffrey Mayer
Actress (and Ducati owner) Amanda Beard. To emulate Harley-Davidson's model of brand extension, C.E.O. Federico Minoli shifted into overdrive to establish "a Ducati way of life."
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Rarified Customers
Photo by Gabriel Bouys
Ducati fans Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Federico Minoli's strategy was a woeful mismatch with Ducati's rarefied customer base, whose members didn't appreciate laying out that kind of cash just to share the road with faux connoisseurs.
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Designer Ride
Photo by Richard Drew
In the latter half of the 1990s, even as Ducati was attracting such customers as Ralph Lauren, the company was trying to ride out a financial slump.
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