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Opening of the 2nd Ducati Showroom and a short talk with Nicky Hayden!



18th December, 2009, a landmark date in the history of motorcycling in India, the gala opening of the second showroom of Ducati in India in Gurgaon, NCR, presided by the illustrious company of Mirko Bordiga, COO, Ducati, Asia-Pacific, Ashish Chordia, CEO and Chairman, Precision Motors, Jasbir Singh, COO, Ducati and the indomitable Nicky Hayden who evidently needs little introduction. The showroom is located on prime property on Golf Course Road, ideal roads for a perfect test spin with a roaring V-twin sporting carbon Termignioni exhausts!

The Great Ice Cool Man makes his entry!



The event was a no-nonsense, only-motorcycles opening, interspersed neatly with minimalist yet rich in content talks by the presiding gentlemen much of which was thankfully done by the glamorous Nicky Hayden.

Ducati came into India in May 2008 and by year end 2009, they had launched two showrooms in a space of 45 days. Mr. Ashish Chordia emphasized upon the fact that this showroom would be a symbol and continuation of the special relationship that develops between the Ducati company and the Ducati end customer who is effectively a Ducatisti. This showroom would feature the entire range and gamut of Ducati products in the form of apparel, helmets, motorcycle accessories, exhaust systems, the whole works including the entire range of Ducati Motorcycles.

Entire range of Ducati Motorcycles? I jumped at that and threw a question, what about the 696. Mr. Jasbir Singh replied with élan. “Yes we are getting that one too. Because of the 800cc restriction, we are getting the 696 Monster homologated in India!” Wow! That is great news. Which essentially means that Ducati is talking and means business. They had showcased a good amount of apparel, shoes, exhaust systems, motorcycles, in an expansive showroom building the Ducati image and extending the Ducati relationship.

Jasbir Singh went on to say that they have printed prices for their entire range of motorcycles and they plan to sell all of them. When asked about figures, Mr. Jasbir Singh sounded optimistic and said, “We are looking at selling one hundred bikes a year.” I was quite taken aback at this figure knowing the prices of these delicious exotic motorcycles with the current import duty structure in place.

Mr. Mirko Bordiga won many Indian hearts by his short and effective talk about his arrival in India. He had worked earlier in Japan, China. But when he was asked to come to India, he had no clue to what he was going to come up against. He had no idea about the people in this country. His first arrival was in early 2009. And since then he has been here five times. He is beginning to understand the culture and the passion of the people of this country. When Indians like something, they are attached passionately to it. Which is the central essence behind the creation of a Ducati.





And then it was time for Nicky Hayden to cut open the red ribbon leading into the marvelous store, tastefully laid out, with the motorcycles on one side and accessories and apparel on the other. The dominating theme was evidently red and white for the launch of the showroom housing motorcycles often referred to as Ferraris on two wheels. As Nicky Hayden cut into the showroom with much fanfare and started the autograph session, I manage to sneak in some time with him and have a quick chat excerpts of which is presented here.

I asked Nicky Hayden if this was the first time in India for him. He replied with a smile, “Yes, this is my first time in India. I am flying in straight from Italy. I was asked by Ducati to come to India and I thought that it would be a good thing. This is a country that is coming up in a big way with a growing strong economy, it is a good time for a company like Ducati to open shop and I decided to come for this opening of the showroom.” And during his first visit to such a country, what does he think about the driving here. “I have not been able to see much since I am coming straight from Italy. But whatever little I saw, there is noticeable talent amongst some scooter riders in the way they weave through traffic. Maybe sometime in the near future, there will be an Indian in MotoGP!” he said with a disarming smile.



Which is Nicky’s favourite track. “I like riding at Laguna Seca. That is a difficult and challenging track. Besides I grew up racing in the US. I like Laguna Seca.” I continued with my questions, “We have heard about bikes becoming bigger in the near future.” “Yes, we are looking to the season of 2012 where we are bringing in 1000CCs. Safety and security issues will be taken care of despite the stronger and more powerful machines.”

I asked him, “When you are crouched behind the bubble astride your Ducati, what do you read off the console?” At that Nicky nearly burst out laughing saying, “When you are flying at 210 miles an hour, (over 330kmph) there is not much time to look at the console. However we do keep an eye on it for the Rpm, the gear position, the shift light and lap times. We also try to keep an eye out for what the team tries to communicate with the boards though it is not easy at those speeds.”



Nicky Hayden started racing in MotoGP from 2003. I asked him about his preferences in machines. “I came in the second year of 4 strokes. I have ridden both. I clearly prefer 4 strokes over 2 strokes” was his straightforward answer.





Nicky Hayden, 2006 MotoGP champion, an amazing personality with phenomenal riding skills seemed as down to earth and practical as they come while I talked to him. For me it was a memorable winter afternoon spent in the elite company of one of the finest motorcycle racers surrounded by some of the finest motorcycles made my man in the historic opening of a showroom in the National Capital Region of India, probably ushering in a new era in motorcycling in this country.


SOme accessories:

Some more from Ken:







Photos: Aryan/Krishnendu
Text: Krishnendu (KEN)

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blisteringintelligence

Awesome I was eagerly looking forward to this... Any pics of the steeds...?

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EL LOCO DIABLO

Ahhhh!! Ken i have one question for you, how did you manage all those questions man with Nicky Hayden? I would have ended up blabbering my ass off, and Aryan lucky fellow, i hope there is a big blowup of the pic somewhere prominent. Great Work guys!

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Prakrit Takkar

^thums up^

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hitanshu

Nice stuff.

Love the glazed out .. deer in headlights look of Aryan in the last one!

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kirosh_03

Amazing! Wonderful stuff!

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Kriss and ELD, you guys will always be remembered.

Harmeet

awesoooooooooooome.

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Aryan

It was an amazing experience. I love covering such events, but this was something out of the ordinary, not only because of the brand that we were covering, but also because we were representing one of the biggest biking group of the country, unarguably.

Ducati has infact done a marvelous job of bringing their whole product line-up in India - right from the Ducati 696 Monster to the Ducati 1198S.

@BI: I have many pictures of the steeds, of which I'll be posting a few in about a couple of hours' time.

@all: Delhi/NCR xBhpians must go and visit the Ducati showroom once, if not for anything else, just to experience the kind of ambience and atmosphere it has. Also, they do not only have the whole product line-up for sale, but as far as the accessories go, we were told during a short one-on-one with a representative of Ducati that there were about 12,500 accessories which would shortly go on sale! Now, THAT is mind-boggling.

Good job Ducati, I say!


Here is the official price-list of the Ducati motorcycles.

Hyper-Motard
HM 1100 - Rs.14,40,499/-
HM 1100S - Rs.17,11,919/-

Monster
696+ - Rs.10,02,509/-
1100 - Rs.14,09,182/-
1100S - Rs.16,49,284/-

Sport Classic
GT 1000 - 12,97,065/-
GT 1000 bicolor - Rs.13,62,413/-
GT 1000 Touring - Rs.13,78,283/-
Sport 1000S - 15,27,353/-

Street Fighter
Fighter - Rs.18,74,772/-
Fighter S - 23,96,735/-

SuperBike
848 - Rs.15,91,197/-
1198 - Rs.20,56,415/-
1198 S - Rs.24,53,106/-
1098 R - Rs.41,44,266/-
1098 R TB - Rs.44,99,200/-

(All prices in INR and ex-showroom)

Here are a few pictures from my end:

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soulstation

WTF! was this in the news. did people know that NH was suppose to be heading to the capital? whats next is Troy bayliss is in my back yard and i don't even know about it.!!!!

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Lost Soul

wow ! nicky looks handsome . @ aryan - is showroom open ? i'll feel kinda embarassed to go there on my desi bike

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