Ducati has no plans to make small bikes in India

Ducati has no plans to make small bikes in India

Now go update your aukaad and get a big bike

WhatsApp groups are going nuts about a recent report in the Economic Times suggesting that Ducati may be looking for Indian partners to manufacture small-capacity bikes for the global market. The report quotes Andrea Buzzoni, Global Sales & Marketing Director in vague terms. Today, Ducati India cleared the air, issuing a terse statement: “We would like to clarify that Ducati currently has no plans to partner with any Indian two-wheeler manufacturers and/or to build small capacity engine motorcycles in India.”

The report went on to suggest that Hero MotoCorp and Royal Enfield were potential targets for a partnership. We’ve reached out to Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Royal Enfield, but have received no response at the time of publication. In any case, we imagine it would have been something akin to “LOL!”

“We would like to clarify that Ducati currently has no plans to partner with any Indian two-wheeler manufacturers and/or to build small capacity engine motorcycles in India.” – Ducati India

Ducati’s India range is imported into the country from their Thailand manufacturing facility. Could Ducati make smaller-capacity motorcycles for the global market? It already does, with the 400cc Scrambler Sixty Two, but import and homologation rules in India make it unfeasible to bring into the country, even with the Free Trade Agreement with Thailand. We doubt a business case can be made to set up manufacturing or assembly operations for what’s likely to be a very low-volume product.

Sorry folks. Carry on waiting for BMW Motorrad to get their act together and launch the G310R.