Harley + Ducati ?

Just read a thread on another forum about HD making a bid to buy Ducati from VW. If true I wonder if HD might learn how to shed some weight, probably not.

Well, I assume it will be a match made in heaven. The Motor Company has had a great track record with acquisitions in the past. Buell, MV Augusta acquisitions have been nothing less than stellar smash hits...Based on that experience, if you want a Duc you better get one now...

^^^^^^^^^Yup. No better way to fuck up Ducati than letting those clowns at HD acquire it. I wouldn't worry much. They'll have it for a couple years, the faithful will do nothing but gripe, and after HD trashes a year or two of bikes and they stop selling, they'll sell it off.

Awwww, cmon guys, it's a match made in heaven. vtwins, high maintenance, expensive to buy and fix and maintain.

WTF cud go wrong

As a Buell owner and former HD dealership employee I have first hand knowledge of just how bad HD can F*** up a wet dream and at the expense of the customer to boot. Buy your duc now because if this goes through you won't want to buy one after.

Is there anything to back this up? Are we just pontificating?

Link ?

Article ?

Dave

it's real...https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-ducati-m-a-idUSKBN19C1XX

Thanks, Joe

Well it will work as well as putting oil in water. Total opposites and obviously Hardly hasn't learned it lessons.

Dave

From the referenced article comes this comment...

"Harley-Davidson is miles behind Ducati in technology terms," he added.

Thank you Captain Obvious....

As a former owner of two HD's for a combined 14 years of ownership, I gotta say this will not end well.

At one point, HD had some really good things in their favor: the Revolution motor (which is still stuck in a chassis that handles like a dump truck), MV Augusta and their Italian styling, and Buell's experience in chassis tuning.

They had everything right there to do some really neat stuff.

The economy blipped and what did the idiots in the ivory tower do? They sold MV for what they paid for it, shuttered Buell, and stuck to cruisers and Geezer Glides.

IDIOTS!

The morons in Milwaukee will not do anything of note if they buy Ducati. With any luck, the worst they will do is not fuck up Ducati.

I've never owned a Harley nor have I ever wanted to. I have never understood the appeal and I doubt I ever will. Surprising and too bad BMW declined interest.

Wow. All the negative vibes.. HD has technology. They just need a platform to demonstrate on. Having said this, I sure hope HD doesn't become HDD.

dcarver said:

Wow. All the negative vibes.. HD has technology. They just need a platform to demonstrate on. Having said this, I sure hope HD doesn't become HDD.

Click to expand...

I dunno, Don. It seems to me that the leadership at the MoCo is stuck in a rut with cruisers and Geezer Glides. Hell - they couldn't really do anything with Buell and there was a TON of opportunity there.

IMHO, a fair amount of angst should be directed at the dealers. They cater to the pirate 'lifestyle' and that demographic is shrinking.

I will agree with you - they do have technology. That Revolution engine has a lot of potential. But, they've left it in that crap-tastic chassis.

You know me, Don. I'm not a HD hater, but based on their track record, I am not optimistic on the capability of HD's 'leadership' to do anything worth a damn with Ducati.

(HDD) Is that like, Hyper active moretard.

Dave

The thing is, i already got mine,

and i'm a gonna keep it.

Hmm.. how to get youtube video embedded?

Oh well. Here's an example...

HD is a business. Everyone makes the mistake of thinking that better technology / better motorcycles = company success. Not so. Sales are what count. From a business point of view, still selling ancient tech for top dollar is a great strategy.

If they want to by Duc it's just going to be a business decision. They don't need engineering or ideas for new products from Duc. I'm sure they have enormous R&D budget and can just buy competitor's bikes and have their engineers copy others' designs like the 4 Japanese companies have always done. When they wanted to build a performance motor they just subcontracted to Porsche to design the V-rod motor.

I don't care too much about either company, but I'd rather have HD own Duc than VW. I'm not a big fan of the world's largest automaker who intentionally programmed vehicles to cheat emissions tests so they could (and did) gain an massive unfair advantage over their rivals.

Another news source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/21/harley-davidson-enters-race-to-buy-italian-rival-ducati.html , who also reports Harley-Davidson stock (ticker = HOG) down 1 point on the news.

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What do Harley riders and Ducati riders have in common?

I don't know Uncle Hud, what DO Harley riders and Ducati riders have in common?

They both buy a lot of branded gear, and rarely ride more than two hours before calling it a day.

Well, it is about time The Motor Company gets around to delivering motorcycles...as the eminent former CEO of The Motor Company Jeff Bluenstein once said, "Sir, at Harley-Davidson we do not sell motorcycles. We sell a lifestyle and an image. The motorcycle is secondary in the transaction."

Occasionally CEOs do tell the truth.