Ducati To Manufacture Bikes In Argentina

Ducati and the Volkswagen Group Argentina have agreed to assemble Ducati motorcycles from completely knocked down (CKD) kits in Argentina. The assembly plant will be in Ducati's parent company Volkswagen's already-existing Cordoba Industrial Centre production facility. The company expects to be producing motorcycles in the facility by the end of 2022. This will be the third Ducati production facility outside Italy, after Thailand and Brazil. Currently, many of Ducati's lower-priced models are made in Thailand, while the high-end machines, mainly the superbikes, are still manufactured in the Bologna factory.

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The first model to be assembled in Argentina will be the Ducati Scrambler Icon.

The first model to be assembled in Argentina will be the Ducati Scrambler Icon, which is already a popular model in the country. So far, there is no word on assembly of other models, but it's likely that Ducati will be looking to offer CKD assembly of a few other models as well in Argentina, particularly in the Scrambler family.

"The Argentinian motorcycle market is very interesting, Ducati has a strong positioning in this country in which over the years we have been able to achieve excellent results, both in terms of volumes and market share," Ducati global sales and after-sales vice president Francesco Milicia said in a statement.

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What is not clear is how the VW group and Ducati intend to scale up this arrangement, if at all. If that is indeed the case, globally, then CKD assembly is possible at a lot of other locations around the world, and final assembly at location will also side-step import tariffs, passing on the benefits to customers. If it's the beginning of things to come, Ducati may well look to leverage VW's massive global manufacturing footprint to scale up its CKD assembly worldwide.

The commercial relationship between Ducati and Volkswagen Group Argentina began in 2013, after Audi AG bought the Italian motorcycle manufacturer globally in 2012. Ducati currently has seven exclusive dealerships with integrated service in Argentina, including a showroom area and dedicated space for the Scrambler range.