Ducati Teases Final Edition 1299 Panigale

Ducati has released a teaser video showing what appears to be the final edition of the 1299 Panigale, set to be unveiled on 7 July 2017 at the World Superbike race in Laguna Seca, US. The tagline of the video is "when the end tells the whole story", but it's certainly not the end of the Ducati superbike. The Ducati 1299 Panigale is the current flagship model in the Italian motorcycle manufacturer's line-up, but it doesn't meet the latest Euro 4 emission regulations. It is likely to be replaced by a V4 model, a production version of the current MotoGP Desmosedici bike.

Ducati is likely to introduce the final, special edition version of the superbike on 7 July, which is likely to be sold only in the US, which doesn't come under stringent emission regulations. The final edition will feature the Italian tricolour (red, white and green) paintjob and likely be powered by the Superquadro 1285 cc v-twin with 209 bhp of maximum power and peak torque of 104.7 Nm. The bike is expected to have a dry weight of just 168 kg, and wet weight of around 179 kg. Expect the whole nine yards in advanced electronics, including cornering ABS, traction control, wheelie control as well as quickshifter and engine brake control.

(Ducati 1299 Panigale S Anniversario Edition)

Ducati has already revealed that the Panigale will remain its WSBK bike during 2018, so the final edition is likely to be a top-spec model with a carbon fibre chassis borrowed from the 1299 Superleggera. It's going to be a limited edition version, so we expect it to be priced accordingly as well. More details will be revealed once the bike is launched on 7 July 2017.

There have been unconfirmed reports for the last two years about Ducati working on a production V4 superbike, reportedly a homologated version of the 1000 cc V4 from Ducati's Desmosedici MotoGP for production use. That bike, which will replace the 1299 Panigale, is expected to be unveiled at the EICMA show in Milan later this year.