Phishing?? I hope the b'tards dont steal my id and post crap under my name. I can do that better than them.

now a days Hero is doing lots of things to keep its #1 position & I hope they'll produce few performance bikes with the help of Ducati/EBR that can advantage Indian customers in near future..

+1, Tata has been nothing short of "Hand of God" to JLR, they turned it around and how, that has become a case study now in business schools around the world.

Ducati isn't in any trouble, they just need a partner/owner with efficient back-end and Hero is exactly that, with hard cash and superb supply chain/production facilities they are just tailor made suitor for Ducati. I've no doubts that they will be able to manage Ducati, don't think they are stupid enough to tinker with brand "Ducati", 100% sure that they know what Ducati means, even if they don't they can take a leaf out of what Tata Motors did with JLR and how that changed their balance sheet dramatically.

Audi could be in the race for Italian motorcycle maker Ducati


Ducati seems to have an endless list of potential suitors even as the latest name doing the rounds as a possible buyer is Volkswagen group owned luxury car maker Audi. The word is that Audi has now gotten itself the first right of refusal for Ducati from the InvestIndustrial group, which is the current owner of the iconic Italian motorcycle marque. Audi is said to be readying up to buy Ducati for about 250 to 300 million euros, a far cry from the 1 billion USD number that was doing the rounds a while earlier. The latest valuation comes on the face of Ducati’s debt of around 200 million euros.

So, effectively, Ducati will be valued at around 450 to 500 million euros, of which Audi could pay InvestIndustrial about 250 to 300 million euros for the Ducati buy, while also assuming the current debt of 200 million euros on the motorcycle’s books. The Volkswagen group, while being a giant in the car world is yet to make a mark when it comes to motorcycles although Volkswagen’s top honcho Ferdinand Piech has expressed an interest in the past to acquire a motorcycle maker.In 2008, Ferdinand Piech had reportedly wanted to acquire a then ailing Ducati, which was on the bidding block.

Apart from the personal interest or passion that Ferdinand Piech has in motorcycles, the Ducati buy could also mean that the Volkswagen group would be better poised to take on Audi’s archrival BMW, which has its own motorcycle division in the form of BMW Motorrad. After the initial speculation that BMW was in the race for Ducati, the German automaker scotched all rumors by declaring that it had no intention of placing a bid for the Italian motorcycle maker. Apart from Audi, Ducati is said to have attracted Mercedes Benz’s performance arm AMG and the world’s largest motorcycle maker from India, Hero MotoCorp.

So, the Ducati buy by Audi could bring a lot of benefits to the German automaker. Meanwhile, Audi is said to have time until the middle of April to mount a bid for Ducati and the German automaker is said to be doing its homework for the deal. So, will Ferdinand Piech’s desire of owning the legendary Italian motorcycle marque finally come true in the coming months. That, only time can tell.


Source: Now, Audi could be in the race for Italian motorcycle maker Ducati | IndianCarsBikes.in

Others:

Audi are ahead of Hero

Audi are very close to sign the deal on Ducati

^^^Oops, does that mean Hero Moto corp missed the bus for this deal?

Not exactly but Audi are ahead for sure and are on final talks as Iv read. Still there is scope. Audi are 1st, Mercedes are 2nd, Hero are 3rd on the deal as experts say.

any updates??

i think ferrari also had some interest in ducati.

Yeah, today fiat has also joined but they just over took ferrari / sarcasm

^^^

Apparently you didn't get what i was aiming at, but you did what i wanted to you to do.

Audi seems close to wrapping up the Ducati purchase.

Excerpt:

Audi Acquires Ducati For $ 1.1 Billion

Source - Audi Acquires Ducati For $ 1.1 Billion

nice deal thank god it didnt end up with bad hands