VOL. 52 ISSUE 19 MAY 12, 2015 P75
bike… Triumph already uses
it, and presumably you're not
suing John Bloor?
Sorry, but since our dispute
with Borile is still pending in the
courts, I'd like to avoid address-
ing this matter just now.
Will Ducati ever make a
Cruiser for the largest model
segment in your largest single
market, the U.S.?
That's the same as for the
scooter. If we ever make a cruis-
er we will know how to make it,
but that doesn't mean we are
making it. The Diavel is the per-
fect answer for the time being,
because it kind of looks at this
market segment, but is doing so
with a very sporty character.
Even without a cruiser,
Ducati already has a broad
model range covering many
different segments, and your
sales are increasing all the
time. Are you going to run out
of production capacity here in
Bologna?
No, because we have our
plant in Thailand that can sup-
port our home factory and help
develop volume.
in Italy, and if anything is slightly
better because everything is
pretty new, so it's a very good
place to manufacture motor-
cycles.
How big is the workforce
there?
Currently around 200 people,
and they produce around 10,000
bikes annually. If we need to,
we can double the production
volume there, no problem. We
have five production lines there,
"I THINK THERE IS NO
AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY THAT IS
NOT TAKING A LOOK AT ELECTRIC
RIGHT NOW. IT WOULD BE KIND
OF STUPID NOT TO."
Is your Thai factory manu-
facturing Ducati products
from scratch, or is it at pres-
ent exclusively only assem-
bling CKD [complete knocked
down] kits made in Bologna?
It's CKD on some models,
and it manufactures others
from scratch. So, for example,
50 percent of the Scrambler
production is manufactured in
Thailand. So we produce in Bo-
logna all the Scramblers that we
sell in Europe, and we produce
them in Thailand for the rest
of the world, like Australia, the
USA, and Asia. Our Thai plant is
now very much aligned with the
quality standards that we have
against four here in Bologna.
And what is your annual
production ceiling here in
Borgo Panigale on a single
shift basis?
I would say 60,000 bikes. We
have quite a lot of space here
that's still unused, and so we
have the room if necessary to
expand.
So the idea of moving the
factory to the other side of
the Tangenziale freeway here
in Bologna and redeveloping
the present site for housing is
finished?
Yes, we like the history of this
place, you know. This is where
Ducati was born. This office that
