| If the 999S goes up in price they'll sell a whole bunch more Aprillia Factories.
I wonder when Ducati will realise that despite the fact that there are a bunch of us prepared to pay a considerable premium to ride something with more individuality, style and soul than a UJM (even when an £8,500 Gixer Thou will whup most Dukes asses - if we're honest) there are limits.
Seriously, if you want a very quick Italian V-Twin with all the trick Ohlins and radial bits you have to be absolutely besotted with Dukes to overlook the Aprilia, especially the new one. I know Aprilias seem to be very much built down to a price and are plagued by cosmetic things like stickers falling off, but for several grand less, I could overlook that.
I know that relatively small European manufacturers will never enjoy the economies of scale that Japanese companies have and will always be more expensive in terms of labout input etc, but if Aprillia can do it there's surely not much justification for Ducati prices to be comparitively through the roof?
As somebody that has Ducati written through me like a stick of rock and aspires to the ownership of a more exotic Duke as a stable mate for than the one I already own, it's a complete pain to see Ducati moving the target ever further away. I thought competition was supposed to make things more accessible?
Rant over
[Edited on 1-10-2003 by Jools]  |