Eyeing high-end motorcycle market in India, Italian superbike manufacturer Ducati plans to open four showrooms in 2010 to achieve sales target of 150 sports superbike. “Within a month, we have opened two showrooms in India and plan to expand our presence in the country in a big way next year,” said Ducati CEO (Asia Pacific) Mirko Bordiga.
“We will be offering our entire range of bikes — seven families comprising 14 variants, including Monster, Street Fighter, Hypermotard, Sport Classic and Desmosedici RR — to our Indian customers. All our bikes will be imported from Italy,” Mr. Bordiga said after opening a new showroom in neighbouring Gurgaon in the presence of MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden. Ducati bikes are available in the engine option ranging between 696cc and 1,198cc and priced at Rs. 10-45 lakh. This is Ducati’s second showroom in India, the first one being at Mumbai which was opened last month.
According to Ducati India CEO Ashish Chordia, “The new showrooms will come up in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata next year, after which we would expand to mini-metros in 2011.” Stating that Ducati had already received around 25 bookings, he said the company had planned various activities, including racing events and test drives, to promote its iconic bike brand in India.
Mr. Chordia said Ducati started India operations in May 2008 and had so far sold about 30 units, of which Monster accounted for maximum share. Stating that the company was receiving positive response from bike enthusiasts, he said: “High-end motorcycle market is fast evolving. With improvement in road infrastructure and good disposable income in the hands of our consumers, we see our products doing well in India.”
