Forget about the naysayers, the Ducati Panigale V4 proved to be the world’s best-selling sportbike in 2018.
In fact, Ducati was the leading sportbike manufacturer through selling 9,700 Panigale models. That figure corresponds to a 70% increase over 2017. Of those, 6,100 were the new Panigale V4 models. That is remarkable, considering the price of the bikes!
Hence, the Italian manufacturer now holds a 26% market share in the sportbike segment. Yes, 1 of 4 sportbikes is a Panigale.
On another hand, the Multistrada line-up also contributed to Ducati’s overall sales. 11,829 of the sport-tourers were sold in 2018. 6,569 of those were from the new Multistrada 1260 range – a 25% increase.
Unfortunately, Ducati’s overall global sales dropped by 5% to 53,004, which ended an eight-year streak of record sales. The reduction was due to the precipitous 9% drop in American motorcycle sales.
As such, America is no longer Ducati’s biggest market; handing over that title to Italy (4.5% up).
Other growing markets are China (up 23%), Spain (up 8%), Switzerland (up 2.2%) and Japan (up 2%).
The Italian manufacturer has 9 new models in 2019, all equipped with IMU-based traction control and cornering ABS. They are hoping the new bikes will drive up sales for the year.
Ducati’s V-Twins have finally been outgunned in the World Superbike Championship for a few years now, evidenced by the drought of a championship title since Carlos Checa’s domination and victory in 2011. Chaz Davies came agonizingly close in the past two years but there’s no hiding from the fact that Ducati’s V-Twins have reached the end of their competitively development.
So here it is, the new Ducati Panigale V4, which will spearhead Ducati’s assault on the championship to reclaim what has been traditionally theirs.
The upcoming Ducati Panigale V4 is not due to be official unveiled for another two months or so; Ducati will take the wraps off of it on November 5th, most likely during this year’s EICMA show. But because it is arguably the most anticipated motorcycle of the year, photos and teasers have already been hitting the internet for a while now.
The photo above was published in a few motorcycle websites and blogs, and shows what seems to be the full production ready machine.
This is not the only photo to hit the internet, just last week the photo below was uploaded, supposedly from a track test session. While the photo below is grainy and not does not show much about the bike, we do get the full view of the fairing while the photo above shows a clearer view of the rest of the bike.
The fairing is probably the biggest change to the new Panigale V4. The wordings on the side that clearly read Panigale V4 also confirm the fact that the new Ducati will retain the Panigale branding.
From these photos we can deduce that the new Ducati sports bike does not look all that different from the model it replaces. The headlights, seat and tail unit seem to be largely the same as the old bike.
But despite looking visually similar, the fairing is all-new, with the headlight recesses looking more like air ducts than headlight mounts. It is likely that the recesses will play a dual-role of channeling air to the radiators as well as headlight mounts.
Not much else is know about the new V4 except for the engine. According to Ducati, the new 1103cc V4 engine is derived from the race spec Desmosedici engine used in MotoGP. It produces 210hp and 120Nm of torque. There will also be another engine with less than 1000cc but producing more power. Ducati says that the engine will be used in the new Panigale R, and is already in advanced stages of testing.
Listen to the sound of Ducati’s new V4 engine in the video below:
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