Porsche, the Ferrari of the two-
wheels. I think that like these two
great brands are doing, we need
to have respect of our brand and
consider our motorcycle as the
fulfillment of someone's dream.
How do Pirelli and Metzeler
maintain brand separation,
especially when they essential-
ly compete in the same space?
Salvo:
Pirelli will maintain the
allure of an Italian brand, which
is very sporty, very fashion. Met-
zeler will be more German style.
I think that our customer knows
very well what Metzeler means
and what Pirelli means.
buying Ducatis (and Pirellis!).
They were buying a dream.
I think also the government
will push in order to respect
the ecology and so on, but the
need for freedom will take our
business to go maybe in some
different direction to address
development in a responsible
way. I think what the motorcycle
represents will not finish in a
long time. What is better than to
dream, to ride a motorcycle after
one week of strong work?
Would Ducati then look at an
entry-level bike for Ducati,
like a Kawasaki Ninja 400,
or KTM RC390? Would you
make a 400cc Ducati for
young people to gain entry to
the brand?
Francesco:
We are consider-
ing to different displacements,
but I don't like the world of "entry
level." It would be a Ducati,
even with a different displace-
ment, but we are not going to
produce—other manufacturers
decide maybe to delegate other
manufacturers to produce (such
as KTM's subsidiary Bajaj pro-
ducing the RC390). This is not
what we want to do.
Remember that anyway Ducati
is considered by many the
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