Is KTM on the Brink of Withdrawal from MotoGP?

DavidSim said:

Wow if you think KTM is trouble, check out the shape that VW is in at the moment. VW has the largest corporate debt of any company in history, more than 300 billion dollars, with 35,000 employee terminations apparently in the cards over time. Could Ducati be the next company to face the axe ?

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Audi, itself owned by the Volkswagen Group.

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mikesbytes said:

It would be interesting to know the conditions around the investment. How one thinks they can make a profit out of a company with 2 billion debt will be questionable

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DavidSim said:

Wow if you think KTM is trouble, check out the shape that VW is in at the moment. VW has the largest corporate debt of any company in history, more than 300 billion dollars, with 35,000 employee terminations apparently in the cards over time. Could Ducati be the next company to face the axe ?

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Audi, itself owned by the Volkswagen Group.

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AnnoyingTwit said:

I'm sure it would be a complicated formula, and not just taking over the company as is.

While I could see Hamilton taking over an independent team, I can't see him taking over a factory team and continuing to produce their own bikes. But, it could be that he's just one partner or even a figurehead for another entity, such as Red Bull, taking over.



As mentioned above, Ducati sells a load of bikes.

2022 was Ducati's best ever year that far, with over 1 billion Euros of turnover, and a 109 million Euro profit in 2022. https://www.ducati.com/ww/en/news/d...ros-revenue-for-the-first-time-in-its-history The figures I have for 2023 say 112 million Euros profit, and over 58,000 bikes sold. https://www.ducati.com/ww/en/news/d...itability-and-revenue-above-one-billion-euros

But, it looks as if 2024 may not be quite so good. DUCATI Global Sales - Data & Insights 2024 | MotorCyclesData

However, overall Ducati looks to be in rude health, and even if the worst happened to the Volkswagen group, which I don't think will happen, I'm sure there would be lots of organisations interested in Ducati and continuing the racing team as well (which I'm sure has contributed to their profitability overall).

It could be that with Ducati looking very much profitable even if figures are down this year, that KTM could be of interest to organisations wishing to have a base from which to emulate that success. KTM has sales way, way, in excess of Ducati, so what is happening to make them unprofitable? More detail on those record KTM sales figures I've seen it said before that it was too much aquisition of other products (such as MV Augusta). It seems that the brand has value, but something has gone wrong.

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