[Ducati] 1098 pricing

[Warren Egger]

Greeting all; The 1098 pricing -is- a shocker. Another seeming anomaly is
the 2007 999S Parts Unlimited "Team" bikes. In '03' the 999S was priced at
$22,995 or thereabouts. Now the same 999S only in the "Team" livery is
$19,995. With the 1098 coming out, the 999 isn't the flagship superbike
anymore, but if that is a factor in the 20k vs 23k price tag, I think it's a
small one. I'm guessing it's mostly due to greater efficiencies in design,
production, and marketing. For example, the first time I toured the Ducati
factory in 2002 I was impressed at the mix of high tech design and
comparatively quaint production methods - looking at the assembly line, I
remember feeling amazed that such beautiful, cutting edge bikes came from
such a "seasoned" assembly line. I toured the factory again in '03 and '04,
and there was a HUGE influx of modern techniques and machinery, more
organization, and a definite feel that things were getting more consistent
and reproducable. I saw some back room "skunk works" areas on the '04 trip,
thanks to tagging along with Ms. Vicki, and was shown some very cutting edge
design and engineering processes. I think Ducati is now reaping the benefits
of their expenditures in infrastructure, design, and marketing, allowing
them to produce the same cutting edge and inspired designs that we all
expect but at lower prices. Of course, I'm just conjecturing, but I would
bet that this is a big factor in their more competitive pricing structure.
Good for us huh?

Cheers,
Warren Egger

-----Original Message-----
From: ducati-bounces at ducati.net [mailto:ducati-bounces at ducati.net] On Behalf
Of Dave Wright
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 10:20 AM
To: Ducati Owners Group; ducati at ducati.net
Subject: Re: [Ducati] 1098 pricing

To be a little more "competitive" with competitive bikes?

At 11:38 AM 11/23/2006, Mojtaba Kia wrote:
>Is it my imagination or the 1098 is price several $k less than previous
>models? The MSRP is set to $14995.00. The MSRP on 2003 999 was 17699.00
>Not that I am complaining, but why?