The one glaring omission in the UAE’s automotive firmament was filled up this week with the launch of Italian superbike manufacturer Ducati’s operations at the Dubai Autodrome.
And at the ceremony on Saturday marking the opening of Ducati’s Dubai showroom at the Autodrome’s Grandstand 1 and 2, the two questions uppermost on people’s minds were, first, what delayed the company in coming here and, second, why now when the recessionary doldrums have not yet completely lifted from the UAE economy.
The answers could lie elsewhere in the world – in Ducati’s traditional markets. The Bologna-based company reported a turnover of Euro 469.2 million in 2008, up from Euro 398.2 million the previous year. While its management said revenues fell “only marginally” in 2009, Ducati restricted production last year to only 34,000 bikes, down from the 42,800 bikes it had sold globally in 2008, amid estimates that the global market for premium motorcycles had contracted at least 30 per cent in the recession. In the USA, which is Ducati’s most important market along with Italy, sales shrank by an estimated 50 per cent.
All this is a pointer of a shift in the traditional paradigm. Ducati – or “Duke” to use its traditional moniker in the biking world – has recently been reaching out to non-traditional markets and the expansion into the UAE could well be in line with that policy. Marcel Bode, General Manager of Revolutions Accessories Establishment (RAE), Ducati’s agents in the UAE, agreed. “For Ducati, the main well-performing markets are slowing down. So, of course, the option is to look for other markets to offset the losses in its mature markets.”
Bode, however, felt that for a coveted marque such as Ducati, the timing of its entry here is not really relevant. Even without an official presence in the UAE, the manufacturer has already put several bikes on the road here over the past several years.
Most came via Qatar, through Doha-based Al Fardan Motorcyles – hitherto the only official Ducati dealer in the GCC region – or were brought in by parallel importers in the UAE. Now, however, the UAE market – always important for Ducati – gets its own dedicated official outlet.
Also, according to Bode, the global recession has not really had as severe an impact on the UAE as the “mature” markets for Ducati in the west. Being a high-value niche product, the Italian brand is targeted mainly at the relative abundance of high net-worth individuals that still populate this region. Besides, he felt, the economic slowdown was just the right time to drive in some hard bargains while going about launching the operations, keeping costs down.
Monica Bode, his wife and Project Manager for Ducati at RAE, had earlier told Emirates Business: “There was a proposal for Al Fardan, Doha, to expand into Dubai, which did not materialise. We stepped in and here we are. This is the home of Ducati in Dubai and the UAE, here at the Grandstand 1 and 2 in Dubai Autodrome.”
Talking about the business outlook for the venture, Marcel Bode said: “With the economy as it is now, we expect sales to pick up.” When asked for his sales projections for the year ahead, he added: “It’s a little hard to gauge how many bikes we would be able to sell in a year. Besides, we are not selling only bikes; we are selling the entire Ducati lifestyle, just as we do with Harley Davidson.”
The Bodes, Marcel and Monica, together run RAE, and also the official Harley Davidson dealership in the UAE. They, however, do not see any clash of interest with Ducati. Instead, Marcel Bode said, they were looking to use their long experience in catering to the UAE motorcycle market, with one premium brand providing the synergies for the other.
“From a motorcycle rider’s perspective we now offer the best of both worlds: the best cruising bike in Harley Davidson along with perhaps the best sportsbike in Ducati. So, no, I don’t see a clash of interest – I see it as an addition, which, for us, provides improved economies of scale,” he said.
The two brands will of course be nurtured as distinctly separate entities, Bode said, keeping the entire customer experience true to the marques’ individual character. This is what influenced the decision to locate the Ducati showroom in the Dubai Autodrome at Dubai Motor City – to be as close as possible to potential customers. The typical customer profile of Ducati motorcycles is one of a passionate rider, especially predisposed towards track riding and racing, Bode added. It was only appropriate, therefore, to house the showroom next to a track, indeed inside the grandstand itself at the track. And there are plans to enter the local bike racing scene as well, either through a works team or by sponsoring privateers.
When Emirates Business asked him about the kind of investment that had gone into launching the brand in Dubai, Bode preferred to remain tight-lipped; all he divulged was that it was “significant”.
Whatever the investment, that Ducati is bullish about Dubai and the UAE is amply brought out by the attention to detail in the launch. Unlike most other major motorcycles brands present in the UAE, especially the Japanese, Ducati has brought all its models to Dubai. The range starts from the Dh42,000 Monster 700cc streetbike, to the Dh200,000-plus 1198R Corse sportsbike.
Also, triple world superbike champion on Ducati, Troy Bayliss, had been especially flown in to inaugurate the showroom and unveil the Multistrada 1200, Ducati’s new model for 2010.
Bode was especially bullish on the Dh99,000 Multistrda and expected it to be the main driver of sales. “It’s four bikes in one. It’s actually fantastic value for money, although it is in the premium category. I’m really escited to have this model as it stretches our range into many motorcycling segments. Besides, I find it very appealing, personally.”
Bayliss agreed. It’s a fantastic street bike. We took it up to the Stelvio pass high in the Italian Alps and it performed brilliantly at near freezing temperatures even on the broken roads and in the rain and snow,” he said. “It’s an impeccable street bike as well.”
Whether it’s the Multistrada that leads Ducati sales here or another model, the UAE’s motorcycle market seems to have come of age. As a biker attending the Ducati launch said: “It seems this is a market that global bike makers cannot ignore any further.”