Thought these might be of interest: Audi to buy Ducati? Article from last month: Ducati up for sale, German automakers cited as potential suitors
Wife and I ate at a local Italian restaurant where the two sons of the founder are BIG Ducati fans and help run/support the local club events. They were talking about it Saturday night. They were not aware of where this was headed.
I found this: http://forums.vwvortex.com/entry.php?941-Breaking-Audi-Enters-Exclusive-Deal-with-Ducati-to-Buy-Italian-Motorcycle... I'm not sure how Audi is branded outside the US but here I think of it as a niche alternative to MB & BMW and a bit more performance oriented than the Japanese offerings in the class. That said, I suspect in Europe and Asia Audi has a far bigger association with motorsport than in the US.
I'm not seeing the resemblance Actually, that was the rumor/joke last year. http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/two-wheel-drive-ducati-desmosedici-photo/
One thing I read today said Ducati culd be had for $200M or less. That is peanuts for these car companies. If VW wants them, having the money should be easy.
As an MV Agusta dealer, we've always compared MV to Ferrari and Ducati to Maserati. So this means either that Audi has delusions of grandeur or that Ducati underestimates its brand reputation. That is not how it works. The cash purchase price is only the tip of the iceberg, the largest portion comes through assumption of loans and other debt.
