In the ever-expanding realm of motorcycles, China has earned a reputation for shamelessly copying the designs of major brands, and among them, Ducati seems to be a particularly popular muse. The result? Clone bikes that often raise eyebrows and evoke a fair share of headshakes. Recently, the spotlight fell on the ‘Ducasu DK400,’ a brazen Supersport 950 imitator with a logo that seemed to have borrowed more than just a passing glance from Ducati’s iconic emblem.
Curious about how Ducati’s top brass views these imitation endeavors, we turned to Francesca Milicia, Ducati’s vice president of global sales, for insight. Speaking at EICMA just after the grand reveal of the Panigale V4 SP2 916, Milicia drew a parallel with the fashion industry. According to him, when your brand is as robust as Ducati, imitation is more a testament to the brand’s strength than a cause for concern.
“We don’t see this as a risk,” Milicia stated confidently. Why? Because, as he pointed out, the imitation bikes simply don’t measure up. “In the end, if you want to have a product with the science of a Ducati and the form of a Ducati, you buy a Ducati,” Milicia explained. Given that the Ducasu manages a modest 25bhp from a 400cc parallel twin and most of these imitations lack the polished finesse of the real deal, it’s hard to argue with his logic.
In the latest quarter, Ducati’s sales figures in China took a hit, plummeting by 46 percent. However, Milicia attributes this decline more to general market complexities than to the proliferation of home-grown, poorly-made facsimiles. With China’s economy rebounding robustly from its slump, Milicia is optimistic about a turnaround.
“The Chinese market is not only very important for Ducati, but is one of the countries in the world where the brand is much appreciated,” he emphasized. “They love the red on two wheels, and there are a lot of collectors, there are a lot of actives we do there.”
So, while Ducati acknowledges the imitation game, they’re not losing sleep over it. After all, when your brand embodies the perfect fusion of science and form, imitations are mere echoes in the wake of the roaring Ducati.
