What it means is:
a) In difficult economic times, especially for very expensive luxury commodoties, Ducati have had a storming third quarter.
b) The world outside the UK doesn't wear sportsbike blinkers and has recognised what a blinding real world bike the Multistrada is so it's selling like hot cakes.
c) Ducati are reacting to market pressures which say if you stick to making sportsbikes alone, you're going to go down the pan. They've known this for sometime I'm sure because it's Monsters that've kept the company solvent enough to go racing and develop sportsbikes.
d) The sportsbike goggles that the UK market seems to wear, are more than likely 916 derivative goggles hence the lower number of registrations now that they're not in full-on production.
d) Monsters are great bikes, but just like the 916 you can't update a ten year old design for ever, so now the Multistrada looks set to take over as the cash cow.
e) Thank Ducati for the Multistrada, it's not only a great bike in it's own right, but it will go a long way to fund racing developments and sportsbike spin-offs.
:"Jools, are you always so pompous and self-opinionated"
Jools: "Yep"
:"Oh well...."
[Edited on 7-11-2003 by Jools]