| You don't need an IL4 - a V4 has more character and you can produce stupid power out of them.
But I think they've already thought of the V4. There was a survey a little while ago on their website, may even be still there, where they were asking a lot of questions to try and determine what their customers believed the quintessential features of a Ducati to be.
On the list there were things like a dry clutch, L twin. I think this points to the fact that they are considering ditching these features in favour of others. I like the way they are taking into consideration what we want so they don't alienate their existing customer base in the chase to convert more UJM riders.
It will be interesting to see which way they decide to go. I think that they need to retain the L-twin and the dry clutch in some space in the model range. I also think that they need to bring the V4 into the superbike range in the future, and not just in the form of the Desmosedici RR - add a Desmosedici S for example. I would have thought that the Ducati superbike market wasn't big enough to support L-twin and V4 offerings but I'd like to see both.
Who knows, Ducati is heading into a bit of a crossroads with their model range. The 999 hasn't had the sales success of the previous range and they need to address it without alienating the customers that love the big twins and dry clutch rattle. A difficult ask when you throw into the mix that they also need to address the performance gains of the UJM masses.
Exciting times ahead maybe?  |