INTERVIEW
DUCATI CEO CLAUDIO DOMENICALI
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titles in World Superbike under
his direction, as well as Stoner's
MotoGP world crown.
In 2009 Domenicali was
appointed as Ducati's General
Manager Operations and Product
Development, and during his time
in charge of R&D he was respon-
sible for overseeing development
of the Hypermotard, 1098/1198,
Streetfighter, Multistrada 1200,
Diavel and Panigale models, as
well as many different iterations
of the Monster family. In 2012,
after the sale of Ducati to Ger-
many's VAG, he was confirmed
as a member of the new Board of
Directors, and in April 2013 was
named to succeed the departing
Gabriele Del Torchio as CEO of
the company.
The chance to talk to Ducati's
hands-on boss in his office at
the company's longtime base
in its Borgo Panigale factory on
the northwest outskirts of Bolo-
gna, provided a rationale for the
company's present day success
story.
Claudio, Ducati enjoyed a
record-breaking year in 2014,
selling a record number of
bikes. What do you attribute
this success to?
There are a number of fac-
tors, but I think two of them are
the most important. First is the
continuous wave of new models
we introduced for our custom-
ers. Which last year included
products at the very top of our
range, like the Superleggera that
continued the concept of Ducati
delivering very special and exotic
motorcycles into the market-
place, and then on the other
hand, products like the Mon-
ster 821 that represent an entry
level model for anyone to join
the Ducati family in an affordable
(Left) There's
no better
example of the
Bologna-based
manufacturer's
goal of being
an aspirational
brand than
the 1199
Superleggera.
(Right)
Domenicali
joined Ducati
after graduating
from Bologna
University in
1991.
