Ducati To Acquire GasGas? |
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File under Ducati Rumors
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati  is strongly rumored to be on the acquisition war path, with as objective, the takeover of Spanish off-road motorcycle manufacturer GasGas .
Ducati have an extensive range of motorcycles, specially since moving into the SuperMotard market segment, but the one area the Bologna  based manufacturer have no motorcycles, is in the off-road segment. No motocross, no enduro, no trial, no dirtbike....
Spanish GasGas on the other hand, have very competent off-road motorcycles, with very little overlap with Ducati. They also need to expand into the road motorcycle market to survive. What this means, at least in the product range, it might just be a match made in heaven. Company culture-wise it might be another ball game...
BMW's purchase of Husqvarna has set the tone; the off-road market is an interesting market to be in.
GasGas was founded in 1974 by Narcis Casas and Josep Pibernat, and trial motorcycle manufacturing started in earnest in 1985. The Salt (Girona) based factory currently produces 10,000 motorcycle per year (against Ducati's 40,000).
Ducati CEO Gabriele Del Torchio presented his 2008-2010 business plan, stating that he is examining the possible acquisition opportunity. The idea would be a majority participation by Ducati in the GasGas capital, leaving GasGas to produce off-road motorcycles with the Ducati badge. Whether the use of Ducati engines is under consideration is not known.
So, there's no smoke without a fire.....
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